Superparents

My wife is a goddamn superhero.

I mean, she’d have to be to look after Isaac on her own for five days a week while I’m at work. In fact, all stay at home mums and dads must have some sort of superhero gene in their DNA that gets them through the day, while still managing to do other stuff.

Me? I don’t think I have that gene. Not that I’m not a good dad; I’m frickin’ great in my own humble opinion, but on the rare occasions that it’s just been me and Isaac in the house for a few hours, I’ve struggled to feed myself, let alone do all the things that Jenny manages to do while looking after him.

Did I wash any dishes? No.

Was I able to tidy anything up? Nah.

Was I able to put any washing on? Nope.

Did I even have a shower? Ha, you’re kidding, right?

Yet somehow, my amazing wife has it in her to not only keep the house in a state that I could not - i.e. liveable - she also then makes the dinner for the two of us whenever I get home so that I can have my time with Isaac before he goes to bed, an hour and a half or so after I get home from work.

And she manages to shower. Most days.

I wasn’t able to do anything between feeds on the one occasion (one!) I’ve been on my own with Isaac for longer than a few hours besides wait however long it was from the end of one feed until the start of the next. And that was only from 11AM til 4 in the afternoon, not the half 7 to half 5 shift that Jenny does every day.

Like I said…superhero.

I tell her she’s amazing, every day without fail. And sure, she tells me that some days are great while others are hellish, but I know she wouldn’t change it for the world.

Now, earlier on I said that I don’t think I have the superhero gene that my wife and countless other stay at home supermums and superdads have. And I know that’s not true. It’s there, dormant. I just haven’t had the time to hone my skills as my wife has as I have to go out to work every day. I’m fairly certain if I were the stay at home parent, I’d be just as good as my wife is.

Because I reckon everyone has the capacity to be a superhero.

And if you’re a stay at home parent, you already are one.

Just without the cape.