My wife and I just found out we will be having our first child. I currently am working from home as an engineer full time because we had to move to a different city for my wifes job. Her work schedule is a lot more demanding than mine so it has been helful that I can work from home full time. How feasable is part time child care while working? I would like to have someone come to our house for a couple hours a day so I can get the majority of my work done without interuptions but still have our child be in the house. I have thought that I could handle doing both but i have never cared for a child before so I think I might need to hire someone part time. We have no family or friends in the area that could help out with child care. Any insights on how to handle all this would be appreciated. Thank you.
AtHomeDad.org
The Stay At Home Dad Oasis - Resources, Information, Connections, and Community for involved dads.
Stay at Home or Nanny
I've seen both possibilities work, but it is up to the flexibility of both your and your wife's schedules. We have a friend that works as an IT mornings from her home and has a nanny watch her boys. It seems to work well as long as the rate of childcare isn't higher than the salary. In my case, as a writer, my wife and I have balanced our schedules to make parenting 50/50. This requires me to work early mornings before the kids are up, and weekend work. My wife (a physical therapist) takes two afternoons off during the week to give me additional time. We love it because there is always one of us with our children. The consistency between us seems positive for our boys. That said, we did have to tighten our belts at first. Work isn't possible whenever you want more money, but wherever you can fit it in.
____________________________________
Daddy Says: Parenting from a Male Point of View.
Married dad of twin three-year-old boys.
Working from home and taking care of the kid
My wife and I relocated as well for her new job back in August, and because of that I started the telecommuting gig (I am a software engineer) as well. She is a physician so she tends to work quite a bit, and because of that I am the primary care giver for are daughter, now six months old. And to tell you the truth, I get about 2-4 hours of work done during the day while she is napping, and all the overflow gets done either over the weekend or at night when my wife is home and the baby is asleep. As for the being new to this, I had never even held a baby till my daughter came! I think it is very doable, though we are both quite exhausted most of the time, but I think that is somewhat normal for parents in general anyway. So I think it would really depend on how flexable your work is. Mine is very flexible, and I rarely have to join conference calls or work during core hours. But good luck and get sleep when you can!