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Day 12

As I hinted at earlier, I’m on my own this month. The Lovely and Talented Wife (LATW) is on day 12 of a 26 day world tour with stops in Seattle, Calgary, Denver, and other exotic locales. She’s in beautiful Calgary today.

OK, so maybe it’s not exactly a world tour. But they are driving it—all 4,966 miles. Unfortunately, it’s for business but she’s got time off just about every day for sight-seeing.

LATW World Tour 2007

LATW World Tour 2007

So I've been exclusively seeing after the kids. It's the longest either one of us has ever had to care for them single-handedly. But, honestly, it's not that big of a deal. They are both at an age where, if I were to disappear this instant, they would survive handily. Which is to say, they know how to feed and clothe themselves and turn on the television. The house is clean, the laundry is done, homework is returned on time... heck, their rooms are even picked up.

One somewhat peculiar thing I’ve noticed is the reaction I get from other people when they find out what my situation is. I’m met with either wide-eyed amazement (usually from men) or skepticism (or some combination of both). I think the LATW and I normally split the household and child-rearing duties about 50%. And that’s by choice and as it should be. It’s the main reason I’ve been working at home these past years (and in fact I took a pretty large pay cut to do it back in 2005).

The thing that irks me a little bit is that, now, I get way more credit than I deserve—like I’m doing something super-human. And before, I now realize, I wasn’t getting any credit at all. Of course, I don’t do it for credit, and I guess it balances out, but it shows you that many folks still have pretty traditional ideas about a man’s role in raising children.

Comments

  1. Matthew on 2007-09-16 20:42:53 wrote: I hear you. I don’t want a parade just because I’m capable of caring for my kids in the same manner as my wife. I’ll bet you’re creating some pretty cool memories, though.

  2. woo on 2007-09-16 21:50:47 wrote: she’s missing that great stop off in medicine hat, bc! lol

  3. Norby on 2007-09-16 23:30:33 wrote: My wife and I definitely excel in different caretaking areas, to be sure, but at the end of the day, they had clothes on, ate something, and didn’t kill themselves. All high points. That said, when I’m oncall, my caregiving skills usually take a backseat, and my patience flies out the window. So while I can and have taken care of the boys under those circumstances before, I’m sure they’d pick mom over me on those days. -//

  4. Elaine on 2007-09-16 23:47:55 wrote: I think anybody, man or woman, who single-handedly takes care of the kids should be commended. Being a single-parent is hard work, even if it is temporary.

  5. mll on 2007-09-17 04:12:33 wrote: Time to do more free-jumping on the couches, if you know what I mean… :)

  6. s’mee on 2007-09-17 08:08:35 wrote: I think Elaine may have hit the nail on the head…single parenting equals the gasps, the awe, the over the top compliments for not eating your young in the wild.

  7. John Y. on 2007-09-17 09:17:02 wrote: Cool, Salt Lake City! If the LATW needs any recommendations on stuff to do, let me know!

  8. Sylvia on 2007-09-17 10:38:45 wrote: Where does a person go to apply for a job that includes a 3 1/2 week tour to such interesting destinations, with time each day for sightseeing? I pretty much don’t care what I have to do the rest of the time. Hummmm?

  9. Phil on 2007-09-17 20:30:31 wrote: Ah, she’s driving through the ugliest part of Idaho. Too bad.

  10. latw on 2007-09-21 04:30:11 wrote: I’m in Denver today, on the last leg of the tour. I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do with out Fd’s support. Idaho wasn’t so ugly- I slept through it, and Wyoming. We have sight seeing time cause we start working at about 3am and finish before 12pm. I catch up on sleep while driving. See ya soon, babe.

  11. Sylvia on 2007-09-21 18:16:53 wrote: Oh. Nevermind. :)