What did you guys do before SAHD

[tt3]

I've had an interesting work history before being a SAHD. Through college I'd been a dog groomer, custodian, lab tech in the med school, and frog hunter/entomologist. I graduated with a teaching degree/license and a bio degree. Got a job doing the frog hunting, entomology wetland assessing type stuff for nine months, got laid off, spent 8 months doing odd jobs like handy man at the local womens shelter, writing, shovelling, building demolition etc. Then I got a job at the fresh water aquarium here in town as a night janitor. They had a "restructuring" and my position was cut 3 months later. they also cut all the college kids but added three "professional" level education positions. Get this, the night janitor and the secratary got two of the three!! (We laughed a lot at that, the college kids thought they were all sure ins, except the two of us both had degrees related to what they were looking for)
Anyway, after a year of that, they let us all go when the city took over. That was a month before Tara was born. Nice timing!
I'm sorry its long, but I'm wondering what you guys did before becoming a stay at home dad.

[Remington]

After high school I took a year off before going to college. I built Weathersticks and custom crates. I went to college and got my Bachelors degree in Business/management. The jobs I had throughout college and summers are: McDonald's for 6 months, Land Surveyor (Summers only), some plumbing work.

After I graduated I worked for Hannafords for 3 months, worked at MBNA America and Service Merchandise at the same time for 10 months. I tried to sell Kirby vaccuum cleaners for about a month and wasn't making any money.

Got married and moved to Ohio State University while my wife went to Vet School. I worked 3rd shift at Fed Ex for one year loading trucks. Before the kids came I was a manager at Walmart in the Sporting Goods Department. After my first born I had to step down from Manager and worked as 2nd and 3rd shift associate. I worked for Walmart for 4 1/2 years - ugh!

Glad I got out of that and I am at home.

Now I do web design, web hosting, and run an online hunting and fishing magazine all from home. I wrote a book with 2 kids under my supervision :shock: and I am now promoting that.

In fact, I have my first book signing this Saturday from 1-3pm.

How is that? :D

[mjknapp]

I did alot of jobs also before sahd. I drove a truck over the road for a couple of years. Then I was a salesman for pepsi-cola, then I moved out to PA, and I worked for Michelin tires driving a forklift, and I was a welder right before I started staying home with the kids. I grew up on a farm in southern Iowa, and worked the farm until I was about 20 or so. But the farmers life is not for me!!!

[tt3]

mj, did you watch green acres when it was still on? that sounded like a line from the theme song!

Remington, whats your book about? And what sort of fishing? I haven't been able to get my line wet in two and a half years. My friend was showing me pics from his last trip to Canada for stealhead... had all I could do to keep my jaw closed!

[Remington]

My father and I co-authored it. It is written in journal form so you know who is writing. It is about growing up in rural Maine where hunting was just an integral part of life. This is the what is written on the back of the book:

The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods

Spending countless hours in the Maine woods was all an integral part of growing up in rural Maine. Bound within these covers are the true life accounts of two generations; a father and his son. The two take turns weaving their stories of family traditions, learning to hunt, and the search for Grey Ghost. The adventures move from E. Bethel to the Albany hunting camp with many stops in between. You will laugh. You will cry. You will escape to a world only a few are privileged to ever know. Join us for that journey!

These are the chapter titles and pages they are on so you can see how short the chapters are.

Deer Hunters. 6
What Inspiration. 7
The Encounter with Grey Ghost 8
My Father’s Stories. 11
My First Deer- Part I 12
Initiation. 13
My First Deer - Part II 14
A Taste of Camp. 16
Changing Everything. 17
Major Confusion. 19
Grace is Spared. 21
A Quick Glimpse. 22
Puzzle Mountain Adventure. 23
Cold and Hungry. 25
Grace. 27
The Days of Yore. 28
Turned Around-Part I 29
The Invisible Deer-Part I 31
The Invisible Deer-Part II 33
Turned Around-Part II 35
The Invisible Deer-Part III 36
A Horse’s Pasture. 38
Murphy’s Law.. 40
Lost-Part I 42
Lost-Part II 44
3 Partridges in a Pear Tree. 46
The Swamp?. 47
Lost-Part III 48
Psychic Phenomenon. 49
The Loss of a Great One. 50
Hunter’s Safety and the ‘Hippy’ Station. 51
A Long Look. 55
Generations to Come. 56
Albany Camp. 57
Retold Stories. 58
Traditions. 59
A Knife’s Story. 61
The Players. 63
The First Day. 64
Etched in Stone. 67
Finally Into the Woods. 70
First Encounters. 71
Mama Bear and Baby Times Two. 73
Dealing with a Bucks Only Law.. 74
A Trip to the Railroad Tracks. 76
Reactions Could Kill 78
End of Day One. 78
Day Two. 80
Invitation to Camp. 81
Welcome the Newcomer!!-Part I 83
Welcome the Newcomer!!-Part II 84
A Guest at Camp. 86
Let the Action Begin. 87
Only the Beginning. 89
3 Steps and Stop. 90
Day Three. 91
Lunchtime. 93
That Afternoon. 94
Comfortable Silence. 96
Visitation Night-Part I 98
Visitation Night-Part II 99
Other Hunters. 102
Day Four-Part I 104
Day Four-Part II 106
Winding Down. 108
THE DREAM.. 109
After Red Hot Dogs. 110
The Meaning of Shirttails. 113
Last Minute Changes. 114
The Last Full Day of Excitement-Part I 116
Last Full Day of Excitement-Part II 118
The Mountain Top. 119
Saturday Morning. 121
Going Home. 124
Giving up the Ghost 125

[Remington]

Actually the book is 216 pages long so it looks as though the page numbers are off. Sorry about that.

[tt3]

Wow, very cool! I was chuckling at some of the chapter titles... turned around, lost, the swamp
Sounds like me duck hunting! :lol:
My dad took me deer hunting first time when I was 13, went through to 20 or so and got my first deer with my car the year I didn't buy a license!
It was my luck in college to ... um... over indulge the night before opener, fall asleep in my stand and wake up to see a herd of doe trotting past. Never a buck.
It was still fun just to be out there!

[Remington]

The cheapest place to get a copy would be Amazon.com if you are interested. There is more to the book than hunting and you would be surprised as to how good you'll feel when you are done reading it. :D

[mjknapp]

[quote="tt3"]mj, did you watch green acres when it was still on? that sounded like a line from the theme song!


Yeah, right, but it is the truth. Farmers work really hard for little pay. And the farming industry has turned into just that. an industry, not for the little farmer who does all the work himself, or with the family. You have to run a farm like a factory now.

[tt3]

I understand that as well. My grandfather had a dairy farm for years, and near the end was making better money selling snap-on tools. Very sad. Having a market dictate a price to you regardless of investment makes for a tough living.
On a completely different topic, as a Pepsi salesman what did you call the five gallon alluminum syrup containers? All I know them as is 5gal cornie or cornielious kegs, but the pepsi folks up here just look at me blankly when I say that. (They are what I use to keg my beer.)
Most places have moved to boxed syrup so there just has to be a stock of these things waiting to be picked up!
cheers

[mjknapp]

On a completely different topic, as a Pepsi salesman what did you call the five gallon alluminum syrup containers? All I know them as is 5gal cornie or cornielious kegs, but the pepsi folks up here just look at me blankly when I say that. (They are what I use to keg my beer.)
Most places have moved to boxed syrup so there just has to be a stock of these things waiting to be picked up!
cheers

When I sold them, we always just called them tanks. There was actually two different kinds though. Pre-mix, which is just that, the soda aleady carbonated, and ready to come out. And Post mix. Which was just Syrup.
And the boxed syrup, we called that bag in a box.

[mjknapp]

Most places have moved to boxed syrup so there just has to be a stock of these things waiting to be picked up!
cheers

If you go to your local pepsi bottler, And ask for them, you most likely could get some of these tanks. When I sold them, we never had a deposit on them, the co2 tanks had a 20 dollar deposit, put the 5 gallon tanks, never had a deposit. I am not saying that they wont charge you for them, but if they did, I would suspect it would be a minimal fee.

Another way to go about it is to find an old bar, and ask the owner for one every once in a while. most bars in my experience still use the tanks instead of bag in a box. They are usually to cheap to upgrade their machines. :lol:

[Don-Dad]

Well, starting workgin on roofs at age 14 (hot tar roofs) Not much fun. Continued that work and working at a local supermarket during the summer. also did painting and some other home improvement stuff with my dad.

I have a BA in Psychology and Masters inn Library Science. First job out of college was working in a library and working in a mailroom. then after obtaining my Masters, I worked as a librarian for a Community College for 2 years. Then moved into the web design field. Worked my "dream job" for almost 2 years then made my decision to become the primary caregiver.

In addition to being a SAHD, I also run a fairly successful internet marketing business out of the house and of course run Dadstayshome.com :D

[Anonymous]

*I did some roofing while in high school.
*Then joined the Air Force for a stay of 10 years.
*After the USAF, I went into the computer business as a support rep for LockHeed Martin.
*Hard Rock International Corporate Office opening new cafes around the world (project management - computer networking new equipment)....I have the honor to have opened the last cafe ever open...Amsterdam.
*Moved on to SunTerra Resorts to do evaluations of their network at the resort level, then upgraded their equipment as need and bring up new PRIs.
*Florida Digital Networks...worked as a Network Operations Center Engineer for their DSL services.
*Finally......went to Marlin eSourcing Solutions and built a Network Operations Center from the ground up, from design to inception. Upon completion....I took over as the NOC Manager for 3 years.

And now...I am a SAHD! Best job ever!!!

[SAHF]

:( That was me...I forgot to login! Sorry!

[Dad4Life]

Wow.... If there is one thing I can claim, it's that I have a very diverse background.... LOL

Before I became a sahd... I spent 12 years in the US Army (got out of the reserves late last year). Spent a majority of my civilian career in some type of sales. Worked as a sales rep for a private building materials company in the mid-late 90's. Sold cars for a year.... That was interesting.... Delivered pizza's as a secondary income for a few years shortly after leaving active duty military service. Worked in construction, doing roofing, building sheds, etc. for a few years. Then my last job was a golf professional. Great job, but pay wasn't worth the long hours and I was hardly ever at home.

I like to write in my spare time, and have written several articles for golf publications, newsletters, etc. My latest spare time endeavor is song writing for a company out of Nashville, although it is a tough industry to break into.

But being a full-time dad is the best job I've ever had. :)

[underfoot]

I was a software geek before. I find my work now a lot more rewarding. My daughter is close to taking her first steps and I'm standing by with the camera.

[tt3]

Congratulations! and welcome to the board...
Its pretty cool watching your kid start walking, and even cooler that you can be there to watch, right?

[mjknapp]

Welcome to the board underfoot. Very cool, and keep us informed on when she really starts walking-----------well that is if you have any energy left after chasing her around!!!! :lol:

[Diamondb]

I spent 10 years in Tech support, 5 in PC support and 5 in Printer support. Finally got sick of being beat up by customers and misled by my employers, figured I'd get more enjoyment out of life spending my time with my kids.

[tt3]

"Sir, is the cord firmly seated in the outlet?"
:twisted:
I bet you've got some good stories to tell though, eh? My little A+ cert has given me some little stories to chuckle about, mostly of how little I really know! :lol:

[underfoot]

Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. I'm glad I stumbled across the board here. I knew some one must have a forum like this but I never knew until today where it was hidden.

I wrote software for all kinds of companies. Big, small, verge of bankruptcy, you name it. My favorite company was my last company (the bankrupt one). Great group of folks to work with. I count almost every one of them as a friend and really wish we could have kept the thing going. And we would have too, but we were funded by a venture capital firm that was taking the capital and going on adventures! :evil:

[tt3]

Tragic that capital dissapears like that, but I was chuckling at your phrasing of it!
One of the few things I miss about working is the socializing. At both my semi-real jobs out of college I worked with a bunch of decent people too. We still have an annual get together in the fall... One of the guys grew up on a farm and started a "testicle festival, the annual nut fry" with a cribbage tournament as an excuse to play euchre! Lots of fun. He used to post flyers at work until one of the uppity ups (who would never come) decided calling it a testicle festival was offensive.
aah well...
Yeah, and here's proof of my lack of socializing. Super T, capable of derailing a thread with a single post! :oops:
:lol:

[G1cajun]

At 14 I was a Janitor in Louisiana on a job training program. I waited tables in college for a while. At 22 I started a Residential Recycling business then started a Recycling Program for Office buildings. I sold the business and became a restaraunt manager for about 12 years. My wife hated the restaraunt manager job and begged me to come home on a daily basis while I was at work. I think it was post pardem depression. We put our son in daycare. She started working and her career took off. When she was up for a promotion recently, we realized I would have to quit my job to support her as she would have to travel. Since then I have realized that my new job as Full Time Daddy is more important than anything I have ever done. I wish I would have had a full time Dad.

[mjknapp]

Welcome to the board G1cajun. I was just wondering the other day how my life might be different if I had a sahd instead of my mom being home. Couldnt really imagine it, as we grew up on a farm, and dad was in the feilds for most of the day every day of the week.

[Remington]

My dad was always the one that worked but there was a time when my mom wanted to go back to school and my dad would get home early and feed us and stuff. It was nice to have him around more.

My sister was mean and awful and would tell my mom that she never spent time with us anymore and abandoned us. Made her cry... :roll:

My sister is -------> :twisted:

[G1cajun]

I was without a father growing up. That is part of the reason I really dig being a SAHD. It gives me a chance to make sure my son doesn't experience life without a father. My wife recently admitted that I am better at taking care of the house than she was due to my flexibility of being able to take care of the lawn, garage, discipline, carpentry, homework, cooking and some other things she really hated or was afraid to do around the house. (Is she just telling me what I want to hear?-who knows? maybe... Okay Yes) I will admit she is making more money than I have made in the past so the roles seem to fit perfectly.
I believe my being home benefits my son, Nicholaus 6,greatly. I have been reading about what happens to sons and daughters who never earned or felt like they earned the approval and respect of their Fathers. I believe being home gives our children more confidence and self respect. The approval and respect of a strong and fair Father is easier to earn when Dad is around all the time. I didn't mention Love of a Father because that is automatic. I have noticed my son's confidence improve since I have been home full time. My wife is amazed at his emotional improvement.

[Remington]

That is so great to hear. I think it is so important to be there as a father.

It is too bad... but it is way too common for the kids to be without a dad. Back in the day it was because the father was always working, maybe traveling, trying to make a living. Today it is likely due to divorce. Not that it can't be either in each instance but it seems like it these days.

But, I think our job as a SAHD is one of the most important and challenging roles that there is today in this changing world. We are still the little bit of hope that can keep society from completely isolating children from their parents. :D

[csimonl]

I peddled hi-fi for 15 years. Started out in the stockroom, made it out to the sales floor. I was a sales manager after that. The hours got to me after 12 years, 9-9 and every weekend. At the end I was a buyer. It was a great job but took a heck of a pay cut. I missed out on too much of my first 2 kids growing up (ages 15 and 13). When our 3 came both my wife and I didn’t want to sick our 3rd into daycare. I still work 2 nights a week back in the stockroom. You might say I have come full circle.

[Canuck]

Pharmaceutical Sales.

[Remington]

Hey, my wife was trying to get me into that before we had kids but I couldn't spell pharmasooticull...... :roll:

[tt3]

I applied for a few drug dealin' jobs too, but came to the self realization that I don't have the drive or discipline to handle being on my own like that. One of my old aquaintences sells for the upper region here in MN and takes his shotgun and blaze to roust out the grouse in the fall. I can just see him thumping down a trail in his dress shoes and blaze orange!!!