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Don’t mislead yourself: Stay-at-Home parenting is a full-time job – or more. It may be even tougher than the ‘traditional’ job because there’re no days off, no sick days, no Medical, Dental and Vision coverage and no bonuses at the end of the year. Nevertheless, many dads choose to stay at home to take care of the kid(s). Some of them do it out of need to give their kids the 100% care they’ve always wished for, others do it as a part of a complete change in their life’s direction.

We spoke with Craig Sauer, who chose to stay at home and take care of his three kids until they were old enough that he could follow his passion of photography and turn it into a business of 3D Real Estate photography. Craig talked about being jobless before the kids came along and what part that played in his committing to be a stay-at-home dad, his full-time daddy job, and the transition to being a WAHD: Work At Home Dad.

Craig says that having a stay-at-home dad can result in some guilt in the partner. Therefore, he advices to couples who consider having one of them stay at home to have the roles of each one of them clearly defined before the baby comes.

“Not that one person has to do everything,” Craig explains, “but it will be easier if one person will be Chief Management Officer of the household.

“One of the choices that we made was that I was up all night with the kids, and I was like ‘don’t be guilty, go sleep. I need you to be able to make your decisions for your job to bring us money, and when I’m stumbling through the day so you’ll be able to say hey I think you’re boiling the baby instead of the dinner’ or something. So going into this with those roles agreed upon and defined was really helpful to us.”

Episode Credits:

Co-Hosts: Yan Dekel, Alex Maghen
Guest: Craig Sauer, Craig Sauer 3D
Opening Theme: Hercules & Love Affair, “Leonora” buy here
Articles referred to in this episode:
Most Americans say children are better off with a parent at home (Pew Research Center)
The Amazing Journey These Gay Dads Took To Build Their Family (Huff Post)
Stay-at-home moms turning into WAHMs (CNN)
Daddy Square: The Podcast, Episode 2
‘The everyday sexism I face as a stay-at-home dad’ (BBC)
Do Something that scares you

For any questions, comments or advise, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@daddysqr.com or on Twitter @yanirdekel