We had a sudden death in my wife’s family which demanded her leaving the country for the funeral. Since we do not have a dedicated sitter, I took time off work to take care of our really young kids while she was gone for close to 4 weeks.
What an experience!
The life of a cardiac and transplant anesthesiologist is such that you are on call lots of times. So even though I help out at home when I can, the experience of taking care of the kids is limited. What an eye-opener it was.
Every father should do this – take care of the kids – alone – for at least a month. Talk about walking in someone else’s shoes. It will make you certainly appreciate your wife more. The care is never ending; my boy has this uncanny propensity to want to hurt himself; my slightly older daughter seems to lead him to very unsettling exploits; there is no get-up-and-go; the highlight of most days was going to the neighbourhood Kroger and dropping my daughter at pre-school.
Feeding them is a trial in patience and perseverance and when they got sick, my emotions overtook my training!
Maybe the worst part is the inability to really enjoy the experience since there is so much work involved. I thought it would be a great bonding experience; instead, reading to my daughter all of a sudden was an extra chore than I just couldn’t find time for.
And when they finally went to bed, I found myself falling asleep immediately I sat down.
My kudos to all mothers who do this day in, day out. Thank you.
I am back at work now and in spite of it all I miss the experience.
jnkdg
