Daddy Daycare

Scarlett is a lucky little girl. She was born in a time of technological advancement, to educated parents, with a very healthy body. Gifts from the universe. But she is most fortunate, perhaps, for a gift that is rare indeed: a stay-at-home dad. Through hard work, commitment, and help when we needed it, we were able to give Scarlett two years of one-on-one time with her Daddy. But it almost didn’t happen. In 2008 when Scarlett was still someone we hadn’t met yet, the plan was for me to keep working until the end of the school year and then stay home with the baby while Nick worked full-time. That plan seemed to make sense until it got closer to May, closer to new lives, and closer to playing roles not particularly suited to our personalities. The baby came, the summer went, and reality started to sink in for the extrovert who was now going to be alone all day with a small person and the introvert who was going to have to interact with other humans all the time. Neither one of us was comfortable with the new arrangement, but we didn’t know how to say it. Until we just did and, to our mutual relief, found out the other one felt the same. So, we forged our own path and Scarlett got plenty of Daddy time. In Grosset and Dunlap’s Dick and Father, one dad takes the time to get silly with the youngsters. They are lucky, too.

http://childrensbooksforparents.com/category/topics/dickandjane/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosset_%26_Dunlap