Stay-at-home dads can usually all agree that society as a whole has a tendency to somehow look down upon them as being second class citizens. It’s no surprise that a lot of fathers who choose to work from home try to couch the fact that they do so in terminology that suggests they are telecommuters for a larger company or that they’re somehow doing it as a favor to their “employer.” Stay at home mother’s who own and operate their own home-based businesses don’t face this kind of scrutiny.
A lot of the problem stems from the fact that society typically views men as being the so-called “hunter gatherers.” As a result, whenever we see a guy who happens to be a father staying home to earn a living from his home based business while taking care of the kids, we sometimes view this person as being defective or somehow incapable of going out and getting a traditional job.
In short, stay at home dads who work from home typically don’t get that much respect. That can change, however, if people start to notice that you really seem happy and that you don’t appear to be living off of food stamps. In other words, they’ll start to see that you’re living the kind of life they’ve dreamed about. After all, who really enjoys the process of waking up early in the morning only to have the drive to rush-hour traffic to arrive at a job that is disliked?
As more and more fathers realize that they can exchange value for money while working from home, people and society as a whole will start to look upon the entire situation very differently. While it’s true that many people will still sometimes assume that a guy who chooses to stay home with his kids and work from home is really only interested in sleeping late and watching TV all day, more and more will understand that this is a legitimate decision that should be respected and perhaps even admired.
Take heart, work at home father! You’re not alone. Far from it. You’re choosing to live life on your terms, and nobody can ever take that away from you.
