Dad shares what it's like to stay at home with kids and it's not pretty
It's not easy being a parent to young kids.
Australian dad Brad Kearns recently found out how challenging it is to be a stay-at-home dad, detailing the 24 hours of handling his two children in an honest and slightly foul-mouthed Facebook post that's been shared more than 10,000 times.
Kearns was thrust into full-time childcare duties, after his wife, Sarah, fell sick with liver failure.
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"Hold onto your bootlaces because I'm about to take you on a ride that could only be likened to a backwards 100 mph roller coaster that takes you through waterfalls of vomit, shit and lots of tears," he wrote on Sunday. "And once you're finished with yours you will move onto the children's."
Racing home from work, he discovered the house in a bad state, with no more than biscuits, gravy stock, tea bags and "a clear lack of defrosted meat" left to eat in the house.
Kearns' 2-year-old boy, Knox, screamed at him to watch a DVD, while his 6-week-old son, Finn, cried irrespective of being either too hot or too cold. Amid the crying, a sumptuous feast of instant noodles was fed to his 2-year-old, while Kearns tried to figure out how to keep both kids quiet.
"As the night rolls on and my patience wears thin; I reduce myself to keeping Knox quiet by allowing him to place stickers on my (very hairy) legs. He was being quiet... 'It's okay, I can shave them off in the morning' was the thought," he wrote.
After waking up every hour thanks to his baby's cries, Kearns' sleep deprivation meant he just ended up giving his 2-year-old sweets and rice crackers for breakfast.
Then came a knock at the door. "Have you ever been in a situation where someone walked in on you doing something you shouldn't be? That's the feeling I got when I opened the door to my mother in law," he wrote.
Not only did Kearns looked like a mess, the house did too -- strewn with unclean bowls and stickers stuck on the lounge.
"It was in that moment I knew I was defeated. It was also in that moment I knew she knew I knew I was defeated. A vulnerability we try our best to keep from our in-laws," he wrote.
"I have not even mastered the ability to keep my own personal hygiene as a mum let alone the ability to keep a house, educate children, prepare meals and even venture outside for activities."
And we still wonder how parents do it day in, day out -- for years on end. You can follow Kearns' adventures on his Facebook page.
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Topics Family & Parenting
