Inside the mind of a stay-at-home-dad

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There are an increasing number of books coming out written about fatherhood these days. In his book “Daddy, where’s your vagina?” author Joe Schatz breaks down many of the roles and responsibilities that this generation of fathers need to embrace. In this ‘Dad 2.0′ world, as he puts it, fathers are no longer just viewed as ‘hunters and gatherers’, but also nurturers.

Before I get too far into it, I wanted to note that my review needs to be prefaced by the fact that I am very biased. While I did purchase this book with my own money, the topic is very important to me and the author has been a big influence to me both as a blogger and a stay at home dad.

For those of you not visiting from Dad-Blogs, Joe, who initially started writing about his adventures as a SAHD on his blog Joeprah, is the co-founder of Dad-Blogs, a great community for dads (and moms) where I’ve met a lot of great people and also write a column. When I first learned that Joe was writing a book about his experience as a stay at home dad I was eager to read it to see what information I could glean from him.

While I’ve been a stay at home dad for over a year and a half now, Joe has over nine years and three children under his belt. Despite the fact that I know a good bit about Joe from his blog and our interactions, I was confident that there would be some takeaways that could help me be a better father to my son.

As I began reading the book I appreciated the way it was organized in that it is broken down into a number of tightly written chapters. There are some great nuggets of wisdom and the book’s structure enables you to quickly refer back to specific topics as you need them.

Throughout the book Joe has managed to create a nice balance of personal reflections on adjusting to life as a stay at home dad, helpful information for parents and humorous anecdotes about his family life. He touches on a range of topics from the hit the male ego takes while fulfilling this nontraditional role to the impact of a miscarriage.

One of my favorite parts of the book comes in the chapter ‘The Problem With Male Pride’ when he discusses the topic of money. Obviously being the one who stayed at home with his daughter he wasn’t earning a paycheck. Despite the value his work was to his household, the idea that his wife was bringing home all of ‘their’ money created a sense of guilt to which I totally related.

Overall the book is a fast, entertaining read that will not only leave you with some great information, but will make you laugh with the tales he spins. I would certainly recommend it for a new dad, regardless of whether or not they are to be the at home parent. It is also a great read for anyone that wants to understand the internal struggles that a stay at home dad deals with, be it a friend or family member that wants to be supportive.