The Best Housedad I've Ever Known

It is a little embarrassing to think that we’ve made it this far in our little sharing experience without talking about the one individual who has impacted me most as a housedad, my mom. 

See, my mom has the type of personality that drives her to always do her best in whatever her hands find to do.  Since she had two teacher parents, she excelled at academics.  In athletics, the solo competitive nature of track and field aided itself to her personality, and she was able to run for Abilene Christian University, a well-respected program.  And my grandpa’s farm-boy past probably encouraged her love of plants, animals, and sciences, which is where she devoted her studies. 

 I can say certainly that going into college, my mom could have pursued any number of interesting, challenging, and fulfilling careers to go into.  I’m sure she would have loved to be a marine biologist or perhaps a botanist, and I’m sure that she would have been one of the best you could find. 

Instead, she and my dad decided to have a family.  But I don’t think this story is the one where the young woman is forced out of career to take care of her husband and children.  Instead, I know my mom made a willing decision to make her family her ambition. 

Because of that choice, she applied the same drive she had in everything else she did and put it into us kids.  I can still remember, early in my childhood, dyeing eggs and having our own Easter hunts, or watching “The Three Stooges” with her in the mornings (I blame this for why I inappropriately laugh at other people’s pain).  Later, she took on the near-impossible task of homeschooling us and pushing us to do better than we thought we could.  I can also remember what a comfort she was to me during my freshman year in high school in a new town, because I could always go to her classroom to get away from everything else. 

I find myself with a similar choice.  I’m not trying to brag on myself, but I feel as though professionally I still have a lot to offer the world.  However if I make the same choice that my mother made and put the growth and development of my children over my desire to be respected in a career, can I really argue with her results?  All three of us kids have attained bachelor’s degrees from a well-respected college and have pursued higher education in our various fields.  Each makes a significant impact in our communities, places of work, and churches.  I think I can safely say that all three of us kids are good, contributing members of society, and our mom was a major part of that. 

Maybe we need more men (not ignoring the women here—just remember what the blog is about) like my mom.  If I can stay at home and give my children the best possible start in life, then who  is to say that is any less valuable to others than if I went out and earned money and gained respect in the workplace?  At a time in our culture when many children grow up without having been taught how to be an adult, maybe we need some grown men (and women) to willfully make the choice to be that person at home.