Stay at home dads

Hi
DH will be leaving his family business he has been running for 20 years and will be staying home fulltime with our children (6 years and 19 months) so I can run my own business.
I am wondering who has a SAHH and how has it worked out for you all? Any experiences you would like to share and advice would be greatly appreciated.
The reason I ask 'advice' is because I am a control freak and I know he won't do a good a job as I do with the housework and he can't comprehend that 5 FULL days a week with the children may be fun, but sometimes can be exhausting and you crave rest.
I also want to say he is a great dad and looks after the kids very regularly by himself as I work part-time, so he has kind of an idea smile

Thanks

my partner stayed home with the kids and it worked great, although i admitt he did nooooooooo housework just general stuff like dishers the kids didnt mind it and i think once i got use to the idea it was easier to go to work. is there anything that ur partner can do reasonably well like hang out clothes even if you put thw washing on b4 work???
thats wat i found worked for me, i do mostr the housework he just completes the easy parts
good luck im sure it will work out, the feeling u get coming home after ork is amazing 2 ur kid

Thanks so much for your reply.

Yes, DH does do that, he is usually quite good but he is starting to study what I do on a daily basis. He says he doesn't know how I get the house so clean and tidy (not everyday!)and he loves coming home to the kids.

I guess I have been a SAHM for 6 years now and I will be away 7 days a week from 5am everyday and won't return until 7pm and later on Friday nights so I'm quite anxious about leaving the kids.

I can only imagine how nice that feeling is coming home to the kids after work. I'll miss them alot.

Hello,

Good luck with your own business.

My DH was a SAHD from when DS was 4 months old. He went back to work 3 days a week when DS was 18 months old.

I am a control freak too, and a neat freak. DH is very good (would say neat freak too but not to my standard), but boys just don't see stuff.

Originally we had a cleaner to do the big jobs every 2 weeks, but don't any longer - if you can afford this, it helps.

We sat down and made a list (which DH put into a spreadsheet - once a business manager, always a business manager) and divvied up the jobs. We also revisited this frequently in the early days to make sure it was fair.

I also did a lot of 'work' in my head around letting go of stuff that used to stress me - at home and at work pre baby. I accept that NO ONE will do things to my standard, but as long as they do them and do them well enough (and this may take some feedback and learning for your DH) then that is OK.

My expectations were: DS looked after until I came home, then I was happy/wanted to take over; dinner done (I washed up - that is what we consider fair); house is tidy or close enough when I get home from work (beds made is a deal breaker for me).

I am also happy to show DH how to do something a few times but after that I do let him know he is a big boy who can do it (confidence is a big thing with boys - big or little). I do still get random calls at work - where is the rice? what wash do I put these items on? OMG DS has had a number 2 accident (OK happened once only) what do I do? etc.

It can work but you need to keep the lines of communication open, ensure you provide lots of positive feedback in an appropriate way (they know if you are being condescending) and also do some work around what is really important to you and just try and let the other stuff go.

Hope it works out for you.