Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

Fatherhood²: A Day in the Life of a Stay-at-home Dad

Posted on March 7, 2012March 1, 2018 by Henry Elliss

Well, after over 9 months dreading it, the day has finally come for my wife to step back in to her other job. She isn’t going back properly until mid-April, but her school (and I suspect many other industries) offer returning-to-work mums the ability to take a number of “Keep in Touch” days throughout their maternity leave, and that’s what she’s doing today.

All together Sara will be taking 5 of these “KIT” days before she returns properly, and because our full-time care arrangements for the boys don’t officially begin until that point, I’m taking 5 days off work (over the next 4 weeks) to look after Robert and Freddie on these days.

Nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary there, and aside from my inability to breast feed (which could cause some fractiousness with the younger child by the afternoon!)it SHOULD be relatively straight forward. But it’s the first time I’ve been properly left in charge of both children for the day, so it’s going to be a bit of a test of my patience I suspect.

Since it’s going to be such a new experience, I thought I’d try to document some of it for posterity’s sake. I’ll probably update this post a few times today – though I doubt it’s going to be very interesting for anybody really. It’s not like I’m live-blogging the football results or something…! But it will amuse me, at least.

5.30am – The day starts a little earlier than normal, with Freddie being a little bit sick after his only night-time feed. The early start is probably a blessing in disguise though, as our morning routine is going to be a lot different once we’re both back at work. Apart from a few tears from Robert when we discuss why Mummy is going back to work, things seem to be going reasonably smoothly so far.

8am – With no major upsets along the way, after quickly trying to get as much milk in to Freddie as possible, Sara leaves for work. My job officially begins!

8.20am – Having coraled both children in to their rain coats, brushed teeth and got bags ready, we set off for pre-school, where Robert spends his morning. Thankfully, a grizzly Freddie falls asleep in the car.

8.30am – Having done the pre-school drop-off numerous times before, I manage this task relatively successfully – though doing it in the rain does present a few tricky obstacles. Robert is now safely ensconced in somebody else’s care for the morning though, so Freddie is my only task.

9am – Despite my wife’s assurances that Freddie would probably now stay asleep for a couple of hours, giving me plenty of time to do some chores, Freddie is currently (as I write this) making quite a bit of noise in his cot upstairs – he clearly doesn’t want to be there…! So it may be time for the first plan-change of the day…

9.45am – With Freddie wide awake upstairs, it’s becoming quite clear that he’s not going to play ball. Time for a strategy change! With 90 minutes left to kill before picking up Robert, I decide to take Freddie with me to Tesco so we can do some ad-hoc shopping.

10.45am – Shopping was a success – Freddie is in a delightful mood, we managed to get some good Mother’s Day presents and even some delicious food for Sara’s dinner, after what will invariably have been a tiring day for her. It’s at this point that I realise just how stressed I feel – not in an immediate way, but in the “foreboding dread” type of way. I can deal with pretty much every situation the kids might throw at me, except one: the breastfeeding. The dread I feel is linked to the knowledge that, at any moment, Freddie could turn in to a big screaming blob, wanting what I can’t give him. Hey ho…

11.05am – Shopping all sorted, I’m now sat in the car outside Robert’s pre-school, feeling surprisingly relaxed. Freddie has finally fallen asleep in the back, and I’ve got 15 minutes of free time to sit and listen to Radio 2. Maybe today might be okay after all?!

11.30am – Having collected Robert, it becomes clear to me how much Freddie reacts to Robert’s presence – without even trying, Robert seems able to entertain Freddie with just the slightest movement or noise. Suddenly I feel very relieved to have them both back together – and Robert is VERY happy to see me again, which is a nice bonus.

12.10pm – Home again, and lunch is being made.

12.35pm – Lunch went very well – Freddie ate everything I gave him, and drank a fair bit of water too. Hopefully that will stave-off any thirst pangs he might be having! Robert was a little monkey as usual, insisting on building a Lego model while we ate, but he ate most of what I gave him so I can’t really complain. We’re now all sat having a play in the lounge…

14.15pm – Having sat watching Cbeebies and playing with some toys for a while, I finally got Freddie in to bed about 10 minutes ago, where he is now fast asleep. Finger’s crossed, he should now stay asleep until Sara gets home, meaning I’ll have made it through the day with no major incidents! Robert and I are now building Lego models and watching Mr Bloom’s Nursery…

15.15pm – Freddie remained asleep until Sara arrived home – SUCCESS!

Maybe this staying at home lark isn’t quite as scary as I imagined it might be..?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • Dad
  • father
  • maternity leave
  • Parenting
  • stay at home
  • working dad
  • 3 thoughts on “Fatherhood²: A Day in the Life of a Stay-at-home Dad”

    1. Ben Elliss says:
      March 7, 2012 at 1:52 pm

      12.35pm and no drama yet!  Where’s the blood?  

    2. JallieDaddy says:
      March 11, 2012 at 10:07 am

      “This is my allotment…” Glad the day went well, SuperDad!! 

      Do you use bottles as a backup? I know it’s a pain but it seems as if you might need then sooner or later.I enjoy getting an insight into the days of other parents, especially Dads, thanks :)

    3. Henry Elliss says:
      March 12, 2012 at 12:32 pm

      He absolutely refuses a bottle or a Tommy Tippee for anything but water – we’ve tried formula AND expressed on numerous occasions, with no luck…

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning walk. Some lovely sunrises, lots of ice on the canal and a couple of rivers and lakes that were quickly merging together, at the expense of the newly-laid track. At least my wellies stayed strong!
    Instagram post 18021846115464989 Instagram post 18021846115464989
    A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good th A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good thing to come from this week’s rail strikes (and the subsequent week WFH) was my daily sunrise walks - something I really miss when I have to go into London. Fingers crossed that 2023 allows for a few more of them.
    Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Ple Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Please enjoy this photo of our beautiful but low-key Christmas decorations, hung in the splendor of our delightful Tudor home.
    Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter
    Lovely moonrise this morning 😍 Lovely moonrise this morning 😍
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022
    • The Best New Beauty Treatments to Prepare for Summer May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2023 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon