Parent Voice Autumn 09 blue.pmd - City of Darebin

Finding the right set-upWhen I gave up work my job involved long hours andtrips away. Kerryn had been at home for two and a halfyears with the kids and was itching to get back to work. She’dhad fairly dynamic roles at work where she was always on thego, and was missing that challenge. So I was happy to swap roles whenAustin was six and Georgia was two.Kerryn and I decided we wanted to have a parent at home for the kids,as it had been when we were children. As mature-aged parents weknow we were very fortunate to be able to do this financially andsurvive on one income. I’d hate to be under the financial pressures thatsome young families are under now. We feel very lucky.So for the past six years I’ve had the role of primary carer, whichincludes all general house stuff – cleaning, washing, cooking, and gettingkids off to crèche, kinder or school. This ensures that our evenings andweekends are great family time – there aren’t mountains of washing, orshopping to be done.When our daughter was younger she attended crèche one day perweek while I did casual work. Now they are both at school and I’m athome full-time, involved in renovating the house (a slow process!),supporting my sister in caring for our mother, and helping out mymother-in-law by mowing lawns and doing maintenance when needed.I’ve been available to help out and take a really active part in kinder andschool, even acting on committees and councils. On a day-to-day basis Iget involved in school reading, hot food days and special events – and amalways in demand for excursions!Sometimes in this role I find my social networking can be a bit limited,and that groups of women tend to have their own topics to talk aboutover coffee. But I’m aware of this, and also appreciate that some socialgroups make a real effort to be inclusive.Of course there have been times, especially when Georgia was a baby,that I would have loved to jump in the car and head off to work, butoverall this has been a great set-up for our family. It’s given the kids agreat connection with me, and really suits our family.Tererry, local father of 2.Support for DadsRob Heller is currently working atAnglicare. He is the editor of theParentzone newsletter.He has a detailed list of resourcesfor dads. Please phone him on8470 9999 to request a copy of thiscomprehensive list.Some of the resourcesinclude:• Mensline Australia is a dedicatedservice for men with relationshipand family concernswww.menslineaus.org.au• Dads On The AirA community radio show based inSydneywww.dadsontheair.netand some other resourceswe found:• www.raisingchildren.net.authis website has a number ofresources for fathers, searchFathers or Stay at home dads.• www.gaydadsaustralia.com• Northern Dads PlaygroupPh Clint 0430 411 4951800 mum 2 mumis Australia’s first 24 hour toll-free helpline for breastfeedingmothers, delivering breastfeeding advice, mum to mum.News brief1800 mum 2 mum (1800 686 2 686) is run by the Australian BreastfeedingAssociation (ABA) and utilises the real-life experiences of over 200 trainedvolunteer counsellors each week who help other mums with issues including theearly days with a new baby, expressing and storing milk, weaning, supply and whatto do when baby simply says no.3