Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Mothering show questionnaire

A friend put me in touch with a mothering show that's on cable I think called Surviving Motherhood, if they can get some other stay at home dad's they may devote an episode to our plight. If you live in the North East and are a stay at home dad who would be interested in being interviewed for TV contact me and I'll pass your information along. Below are some of the questions from the show's application:

1. Do you work? If so, list occupation and hours: No
2. If applicable, partner's age: 38
3. Interest/hobbies:
Music, Internet radio, politics, sports; I use to be into movies and wine but that's pretty much died off after having kids.
4. Would you (along with your children) be willing to spend portions of 3-4 days participating in a women's discussion group?
Yes for a stay at home dad's group, so long as it doesn't interfere with my four year-old's school.
5. What are the major challenges currently facing you as a mother/parent? (list and explain): House work, cleaning up after the kids, the whole homemaker part of being a stay at home parent just isn't apart of my dna; Personal time, I mistakenly thought that being home with the kids would allow me to work on my music and writing, it is also hard to find time to exercise and meditate; Time alone with partner, if the kids don't get to sleep on time there's no time for us to be alone, and even when they do get to bed on time, we only have an hour or so; Working on my career, spending so much time being a caregiver and support system to my wife and two children I have little energy left to look into grad schools and plan for my life after both boys are in school full-time.
6. Describe your last desperate moment(s) as a mother/parent:
We were down the shore on the boardwalk and my oldest had to go to the bathroom, he's only recently become fully potty trained, and I had no idea where the nearest public bathroom was, and was given not so great directions to the restroom, so I carried my son to a pier in hopes of letting him relieve himself into the ocean, but of course the pier which was empty an hour earlier had about 20 people on it, so when he couldn't hold it any more, I took him over to the side, held him so no one would notice and told him it was okay and that it wasn't his fault, but all of us grown ups because none of us asked if he had to go earlier, nor did we find out in advance where the bathrooms were.
7. Do you belong to any parenting groups? If so, please list. No
8. Have you ever, even for a fleeting moment, regretted becoming a mother? Why or why not? Yes, the lack of free time, having gone from someone who had time to travel, work on art, be physically fit and meditate and with a disposable income living in the city, to being semi-broke, tired most of the time and living in the suburbs has been hard to deal with at sometimes.
9. What would you like to discuss with other moms?
Not sure, how they balance their time.