Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

After many discussions with my wife, we have determined that it is more beneficial for my wife to go back to work after her maternity leave and I quit my full time job to work on our engraving business and be a stay at home dad.

Business is just starting to get some attention and I have never changed a diaper in my life, so I am definately heading into unknown waters.

What a great little posting. I love people who make major positive decisions, especially into `unknown waters`.

Good luck and I hope you get the balance right between being the father and being the engraver!

You`ll be FIIIIIINE.

Until baby turns into a toddler. And then you`re gonna need some help if you want to get anything done.

Just remember: keep an eye on your mailing so that you send the engraved product to the customer, and the dirty diaper to the hamper. If you get confused, you`ll have an interesting customer service mess on your hands.

:-)

Changing dipers is easy, what`s difficult is working at home and actually having time to work. When I work at home I still have a babysitter because if I didn`t I`d never get anything done.

A tip on changing dipers, be fast, get the new diper under there before you even pull the old one off. Did I mention be fast about it. You might want to try some blocking techniques kinda like Luke Skywalker did when he was learning to use the light-saber. Maybe your wife could blindfold you and you dodge and weave the spray bottle :)

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

The other issue is that the most expensive objects are the most coveted ones.

So you basically have to hide in the closet to use your laptop, blackberry, etc.

And then they learn to open doors and you`re screwed!

I remember visiting my father`s place, after a couple of years being absent. He and his wife were in NY, a long way from IL. We talked on the phone, but didn`t physically visit so much.

He picks me up from the airport, driving back to the house, and we`re chit-chatting about stuff in general. He says, "Oh...when we get to the house, I should warn you we got a new cat...Jerry. He`s a siamese kitten, and gets into everything."

Fine...bit of trivia to be aware of.

Not much later we arrived, I get my bag and we walk in the front door. All the furniture`s been pushed to the sides of the living room and dining room area. There`s heavy canvas on it all, with rope all over the place. It looked like a family of furniture had been kidnapped, tied to chairs, and lined up for a news photo to be released to the AP wires!!

I expected bars on the windows, guard towers, and searchlights. And there, right in the middle of the empty floor--on the carpet that apparently still survived---was about a 3-oz. kitten. It couldn`t have been more than an inch tall, and it just stared at us.

Reminded me of having a toddler.....

Right now the biggest thing is working on the business, going to my job part time to help train my replacement, and converting the guest room into the babyroom. There are days I am not quite sure which direction I am going.

Oh, that`s easy! Just look out both your eyes, take a deep breath, and holler out, I`m going THAT way!!

It gets easier once they start school.  Of course the time between now and age 5 will feel (in business terms) like a million years and in parental terms, like 5 minutes.

~Kim