Thinking of becoming a House Husband

M

magunkey

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This is a question for anyone who has found themselves with child care/worklife balance problem.

My four year old starts school in September and we've been unable to find a suitable carer for her.

My better half is a civil servant, earns more than I do and has excellent job security & pension entitlements.

To date we've been paying 11K net a year in creche fees which, in theory, means I could afford to go part time & net about a third less than I am at the moment without having an adverse effect on our income.

In going part time I'd probably have to leave my current employer as evening and weekend work at a front line management level is thin on the ground.

The questions are these. Have people (Particularly males) who have taken the plunge into part time work found it easy to secure a new job at the hours that suit them? Has their net income per hour reduced because of their limited availability? Are their any big pitfalls that would make this particular course of action unwise?

Any thoughts or experiences welcome.
 
A good friend of mine became house husband about 3 years ago and gave up the job completely. He's doing very well at it,is brilliant with junior and has a great relationship with him and is about to become father again.
When he first mentioned this to me three years ago I suggested to him to take maximum Parental leave to do the test run. He was sure by then that was what he wanted to do.

Wife has a good job but it still meant a cut in the living standard but they are happy to manage that.

Just a word of caution if you decide to stay at home full time don't forget to apply for your Homemakers PRSI credits to protect your pension
 
What about time with your partner? If she is working all day and you are working evenings and weekends you will hardly ever see each other . Is there any type of work in your field that you could do from home - during school hours? Would your current employer let you go part time and do 10 to 2 or something similar?
 
You could work while your child is in school, also a taxi job could be right up your street, work around school hours and do the odd night if you where following short. Some taxi drivers start early ie 5 am then come home to pick up children to take them to school.
 
hi,my brother was in the same situation.wife civil ser and good pay.He jacked in his job and took up taxi for evenning times.He is finding it hard now as he has kids all day and goes out at night in taxi.Its a hard choice but hes really regretting it now as hes wrecked from the kids during day.hes sorry now he jacked in first job.
 
Bear in mind the level of family/friend support you can count on during the time you have with your child. Do you have a network of people in a similar situation to yourself where you can share experiences and let your child interact with other kids?

Would echo previous suggestion of trying max parental leave first, it's not easy.
 
Just remember he has the kids all day as you say now, but as soon as they are big enough for school he would have alot more free time .no pain no gain and all that. With young kids the great thing is it does get easier as they get older
bob08 said:
hi,my brother was in the same situation.wife civil ser and good pay.He jacked in his job and took up taxi for evenning times.He is finding it hard now as he has kids all day and goes out at night in taxi.Its a hard choice but hes really regretting it now as hes wrecked from the kids during day.hes sorry now he jacked in first job.
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