1 Mother 2 Another

One of my good friends from New York is a
stay-at-home dad, and I’ve long respected the way he handles
the questions and discomfort that invariably come up. In a previous
life, he was a financial consultant who left the money world to
become a New York City school teacher. When his daughter was born
right around the time my good friend– his wife – was to
start her medical residency, they made the decision for him to stay
home and her to go back to work.


Graham is one of the best dads I know, and is an excellent example
of deliberate parenting. He had a backpack stuffed with
non-battery-operated toys and flashcards to use while waiting for
the subway; he brought us a meal after Cora was born; he writes
thoughtful, illuminating articles on Christianity – the guy
is not just flying by the seat of his pants here. But no matter how
great he is, I’m sure he still wrestles with identity issues
– I imagine him going to some sort of hospital fundraiser
with his wife and having to field the inevitable “So what do
you do?” while watching the questioner’s eyes start
searching for someone more worthwhile to speak with when he answers
simply, “I’m a dad.”


But Graham has come to peace with this, and recently wrote an
article weighing in on href="http://www.qideas.org/blog/fatherhood-as-vocation.aspx"
target="_blank">Fatherhood As A Vocation – I
highly encourage you to read it. It makes me want to dig in even
more as a parent, myself.