Introduction

 Hello, I am Joe Curtis and I am currently a stay at home father of two young boys. Gus, who just turned 4 and Milo, who is a year and a half. I have always wanted to be a stay at home parent but didn't know if the opportunity would arise or if we could financially swing it. When our daycare provider told us that he was going back to work in February 2020, we made the decision for me to stay home with the boys once the school year was over. I had been teaching the last four years at a school about 40 minutes from my home. My wife had just started at a new school district and was enjoying it! We looked around at daycare centers and after comparing costs it made sense for me to stay home. I was very excited for the opportunity to give stay at home parenting a try. I felt my skill set as a teacher and my hobbies, hiking, biking, reading, correlated well with the job. Unbeknownst to myself and the rest of the world, we headed into a pandemic in the spring just a week after I told my principal I would not be returning. My boys and I have a lot of fun but have had to spend most of our days with just ourselves. I was able to watch my nephew for almost 6 months several days a week. So the three boys had each other to play with. Like many others, stay at home parent or not, I have been missing connections with other adults and families. I have created this blog to connect. The plan is to have a monthly interview with another stay at home parent, along with a monthly parenting book club. Also I will have other thoughts (or musings) about what is going on with my stay at home parenting life.