Meet Ed. Everyone always thinks Ed has the day off. Why else would he be out and about with three small children? But Ed has a wife with a paying job and a belief that parents should screw up their own kids rather than leaving it to strangers. Most importantly, he also has a pen-pal...
Unlike in all those housedad horror stories you hear, Ed is happy and competent rather than repressed and hopeless. He just has a tendency to find himself in awkward situations surrounded by crazy people. Through dealing with these disasters, he passes on his knowledge of how to survive as a full-time father. As he describes it, 'The hours are long, the holidays are rubbish, the pay's a joke and there's heavy exposure to toxic biological waste. On the plus side, there's plenty of fresh air and exercise, a steady supply of hugs, relatively little stress, strong job satisfaction and an army of amusing minions. You also get to play Hungry Hippos and call it work.'
Ed writes to another housedad, Dave, offering advice on everything from potty training to surviving a zombie invasion. He also details his encounters with Steve, his wife Sarah's clueless manager. Steve is Useless Dad. He has two young children but barely knows which way up to hold them. Ed endeavours to teach Steve to be a more involved father, while trying not to endanger Sarah's career prospects in the process. Then, when Steve is fired and becomes a reluctant housedad himself, Ed has to show him the ropes and convince him that career isn't everything. Along the way, there's also Scary Karen to deal with, Super~Mum, the GrandParent of Doom and a very smelly teenager.
Throughout it all, Ed uses his difficulties to illustrate how to cope in a world full of sleep-deprived women and toddlers with toilet issues.
You can use the archive over on the right to take a random dip into Ed's world or start off where it all began.
Remember, being a housedad isn't difficult. It just requires some effort, a lot of patience and plenty of practice. A poor sense of smell also helps.
2 comments:
Yay! You're back! I used to comment under the handle "Swiggy". That's now been changed to Mrs. Commoner. Glad to have you back!
Good to hear from you. I've spent a year hiding from the internet but now my kids have started bickering constantly I need to spend some time hiding on it. Also, I've had 3 or 4 requests for interviews in the last fortnight so I thought I'd better make this place look lightly tended rather than completely abandoned.
All the best and thanks for the Twitter follow.
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