I remember the first job I ever had mowing the neighbors lawn and cleaning out stables where they kept two horses. I was 10 and the work was hard but the money was great, I was living large getting all the candy and soda I wanted. From about that age on I have worked in one field or another from working the counter at the local Baseball Card shop to working off shore pressure testing welds on oil derricks in the Pacific ocean. Most recently I have worked in the Software industry training folks, testing new software, and providing technical support to the savvy as well as the technophobes. While I have had some success in all these jobs I never saw any of them as a carrer until my wife and I had our first son and I got the opportunity to be the one at home with him. When he was 6 months old my wife went back to work and I quit my software job to come home and raise the boy. I had found my carrer, the job I could see myself doing and doing well for years to come. During that time home with my son I started writing about my experiences as a stay at home dad in a blog, mostly for family and friends.
A year later when a series of unfortunate events led us to move back to Portland, OR from the midwest and for me to go back
to work while my wife had our second son. We cruised along in these roles but they were unnatural and forced and in the summer of 2009 after losing my job we decided to go back to what works for our family. Me at home with the boys and my wife in the work force connecting with adults and being challenged with providing for us boys. when I came home again I got back to writing about those experiences in a blog called Stay At home Dad PDX and you can read more about our family there. So that is where we are now, me raising our 3 year old Primo, our 2 year old Segundo, and looking after our housemates 1 year old whom we lovingly call The Charge. We are an unconventional band of dudes in a local sea of stay at home moms and nannies at coffee shop music times and play dates in the park. I am excited to be part of this talented group of thoughtful dads that aren’t leaving the parenting to the mommies. There is a growing group of men that are not only doing their fair share but are stepping into roles that have too long been defined as only for women. To me Dadrevolution embodies that change in what it means to be a father today. These aren’t the detached dads from yesterday but engaged and active fathers who are looking to change more then diapers, they are looking to change the lives of their kids.