I have started a new website, only a blog for now. Below is what I posted over at Domestic Father yesterday.

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I quit my job today.

It was a good job; 6-figure salary, decent benefits, understanding boss, normal hours, co-workers I was friendly with, room for growth, basically everything you could want in a job and a company. It was such a good job that nobody gave me any grief, and in fact encouraged me, when I chose to take twelve weeks of family leave when my daughter was born in mid-March.

The first few weeks were pretty tough, as we, like most other new parents, encountered one challenge after another. Then, in early May, my daughter was hospitalized with a high fever.

This being my first child, I was not prepared to see my 8-week old daughter in a hospital crib with an IV splint attached to her arm. Though she was released after two nights with a fairly run-of-the-mill bladder infection, the experience had a deep impact on my life and my priorities.

Sally (my partner/mother of my daughter) and I had always tried to structure our lives in such a way that either one of us could support both of us, so neither of us ever had to feel particularly compelled to stay at a job that made us miserable. Either one of us could therefore support all 3 of us.

Before the birth, we had considered the possibility of one of us staying home, both of us agreeing for a variety of reasons that I would be the logical choice. But I just couldn’t quite completely embrace the idea of abandoning my career, and walking away from a good job.

Looking at her in the hospital bed, I kept asking myself one question:

Why would I go back to work to earn money to pay someone else to raise my child?

I could not come up with an answer.

Last week, Sally and I reviewed our finances and added me to her insurance. Today, I let my boss know that I would not be coming back from family leave.

As of this afternoon, I am a stay-at-home dad.