Fear and Loathing in Omaha

10 Stay At Home Dads (SAHDs) from the KC area recently attended the National SAHDs conference in Omaha. For this first time attendee, it was an amazing experience. It was three days filled with fun, bonding, and the sharing on knowledge and experiences that will enrich our roles as SAHDs. So I offer to you, fellow SAHDs and SAHD groupies, two takes on the whole experience.

At Home Dads' Convention in 40 words:

Dads, steak, beer, football, planes, bombs, big planes, mexican food, beer, gambling (lost only 23 cents!), bacon!, research, hairstyling, spread the word, 3 year-olds are a pain, feminism, praise-consequences-consistency, tie-dyed apples, networking, beer, football, beer, missing the family, and unity.

Reflections from a newbie:

Never have I felt so instantly connected to a group of people before. Sure, we've all made a choice that is outside the norm. But what unites us is more than our societal role and genetic make up. It's the struggles we face on a day to day basis: feeding our kids nutritious meals, dressing them and styling their hair in a socially acceptable way, making an acceptable dent on the honey-do list, taking care of the health and well being of our kids and ultimately ourselves. They are concerns that most parents have. It's just that we've volunteered to be the primary parent responsible for these tasks in our family. And we're men. And so when we meet, there is a comfort and an understanding in knowing that we are not alone in the challenges that we face. We may do things differently, and that's OK. Oh, and even though we're the primary care giver in the family, we can still like beer, and football, and not have to check our testosterone at the door.