Comments on: Dark Daze

By: Dave Caolo - Focus on the good

Dave Caolo - Focus on the good — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:23:15 +0000

[...] no secret that my family has been going through a tough time lately. One of the many by-products is Olympic-class stress levels. A couple of weeks ago I asked [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:52:18 +0000

Also sending positive thoughts your way. I believe in you.

By: Jet Harrington

Jet Harrington — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:28:56 +0000

Also sending good thoughts your way.

I’ve read how you write about your family. You are giving an enormous gift of yourself, as any stay-at-home parent does.

What you are doing is WORTH something – impossible to find an adequate metric to relate to dollars – those charts that show a SAHM saves her family $30,000 or more a year are crap. Because it’s not ABOUT the money.

What you are doing is worth EVERYTHING.

By: laanba

laanba — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:54:15 +0000

I have no sage words of advice. Just sending good thoughts your way.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:04:08 +0000

My husband can commiserate.
I can’t speak for your wife, but I can speak for me. I did not look at my husband differently because he was ‘failing’. If I looked at him differently it was because the feelings were so palpable, so there. I could feel it; I could feel some of what he was feeling. I felt as if I had not done enough– my share– to get him to where he needed to be in life.
Things are getting better. My husband is still underemployed, but the simplification (that’s what we’re calling it here) has turned into a positive. We made it into a positive. We may be not be what he envisioned when his father defined his role for him, but we’ll be stronger when this is done.

By: Bert

Bert — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:24:06 +0000

My lessons of manhood from my father were not about things provided but of character and how to Be. I am a better human because of those lessons. Character in the face of circumstance can be a powerful teacher.

Following your blog one can tell there is character and caring. You will never feel you have done enough. That’s a pretty good sign you are doing the right thing.

By: macfixer

macfixer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:50:52 +0000

I know the exact feelings you’re going through. My advice? 1) Be the best stay-at-home dad you can. My dad was never home growing up and he laments not being there more for me. 2) Failing that, land any job to keep any money coming in, no matter how menial or non-job related it is. It’s all about the humble pie in times like these. 3) Network, go back to school, learn more. There’s always something out there in your chosen field that you didn’t know before. 4) Keep the faith. In the end, the only one who can vouch for you is you.