A dispatch from SAHD Mr. Jacks:
Retirement is something that I have been contemplating for a while now. I guess it is because I am getting older. I mean hitting 30 has dramatically changed my perspective on life and how I am spending it. So I have made the decision to lay down my diaper bag, take up the car keys, and start the every day life of a commuter. I will no longer be the stay at home dad– a job that has defined my very existence these last few years.
Instead, I recently accepted a software engineering position locally here in Salt Lake City. I now have one more full week of transition from being a stay at home/work at home dad to being a dad who goes into the office for a regular 9-5 job. The decision wasn’t something I took lightly, though. After returning from my paternity leave, I realized that my current position was not providing me with any avenues for career advancement. I hadn’t been challenged in my programming skills for a while, and I knew that growth would require a change from my current position. The fact was that I probably wouldn’t be able to find the advancement I was looking for while also staying at home with the girls– even though I really want to be with them full-time.
It will be a big shift, having to commute a whole mile outside the house versus commuting a full 10 feet from the bedroom to the office, but I think I can handle it. There will also be no more wearing pjs to work or spontaneous mid-day play dates. But these are things that I can live with. The hardest part will be the precious daytime hours that I will no longer get to spend with my two girls. But we figure that since Little Jacks is in school now and Jack Jack is four months old, that this would be the opportune time to make a career move.
Our biggest distress comes from the fact that Little Jacks had a parent at home with her for her first two years, but Jack Jack will only have had a parent home with her for the first four months of her life. Ultimately we decided that a fulfilled dad is a better dad, and so with conflicted feelings we made the decision. Luckily, Mrs. Jacks’ schedule for the coming year is going to be a little bit more flexible than it has been so that Jack Jack won’t need full-time care.
Just look at these cute faces and the ridiculous number of polka dots that surround them! It is going to be so hard to leave them no matter what the arrangement is!
Edited by Mrs. Jacks to say how proud I am of Mr. Jacks and all the things he does for our family!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Good luck Mr. Jacks! Can you give us an update in a few weeks?
PS. All of your girls are beautiful!
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
good luck with the transition! those precious little faces would be hard to leave behind, but i love what you said about a fulfilled dad = better dad…wise words!
p.s. i feel like such a dummyhead because i thought this was going to be about saving for retirement and i couldn’t figure it out for a long time! ha!
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@Mrs. Cowgirl: I was worried that people were going to think that I was retiring from blogging… but it’s all about the Mister retiring his role as primary caregiver.
Now you are making me think about saving for retirement posts, though!
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
Big changes!! How exciting for your family – hope you love the new job!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
awww congrats on the new job Mr. Jacks – big change for the family. I wanna take care of JackJack!! your girls are just so freakin’ adorable!
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@Coco Bee: We would love that!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Congrats to the mister!!! I lOve your girls!!!
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Fulfilled = better, indeed. Good luck with the transition
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
@mrs. cowgirl I thought the same thing! I was really confused for a minute there. Congrats to Mr. Jacks!
olive / 55 posts
Thank you all. I hope.all goes well with the little ones. I know jackjack will do fine but little jacks has had someone at home with her for 2 years now!
cherry / 154 posts
Congrats & best of luck, Mr. Jacks! I love your SAHD-perspective posts, and I’m sure your girls will do fabulously with the transition!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Congratulations and good luck! That’s awesome you were a SAHD for some time for the girls tough.
GOLD / pomelo / 5167 posts
Oh awesome! Congrats and good luck.
pomelo / 5178 posts
Congratulations, Mr. Jacks! Such an exciting development.
Good luck in your new position, and keep us updated on your transition to full-time working dad.
guest
I assumed from the title that you’d be ‘retiring’ from being a WAHD to being a full-time SAHD. I totally understand the need for career advancement though – that’s what changed me from a WAHM to a whatever the acronym is for work outside the home mom.
With #2 on the way I have a similar struggle. I was able to be at home with #1 for 7 months before he started daycare. With #2 it’ll only be 12 weeks and this makes me EXTREMELY SAD. I still don’t know what I’m going to do about it – or even if I can do it????? (This has been a worry since I saw those 2 pink lines the second time!)