Successful Daddy Blogger: Darren Rowse

Many people read all about women staying home and taking care of the kids but what about those dads that do? No, it isn’t that they are lazy, in fact some of these dads make some pretty good money and love their job. I’m here to tell you all their little secrets and hopefully inspire more dads to come out and speak up, or if not maybe to give it a shot. First up is the author of “Problogger: Secrets for Blogging your Way to a Six-Figure Income.”

1.  What is it you blog about and why did you start?

I have a few blogs – let me quickly answer the question for each:

Digital Photography School (www.digital-photography-school.com) – this is a blog for those wanting to get the most from their cameras (particularly those who rarely venture out of automatic mode. It is around two and a half years old and I started it because I love photography and wanted to share what I was learning about it.

ProBlogger – (www.problogger.net) – this is a blog about how to blog better and even make a living from blogging. I started it over 4 years ago because I was beginning to make money blogging but there were no sites on how to do it – so I started the blog I wanted to read. (My favorite)

TwiTip – (www.twitip.com) – this blog is only a few months old and is a blog for those wanting to learn how to use Twitter (a great social messaging tool). Again, I started it to record what I was learning about using Twitter and to learn from others.

2. How long have you been blogging?  How long have you been a work at home dad?

I’ve been blogging for around 6 years. It started as a hobby but progressed into a part time job and then a full time job. I have been working at home for around the last 4 years, but didn’t become a dad until 2 and a half years ago.

3. How old are your children?

My kids are two and a half and 7 months – they’re both boys.

4.  Can you share with us a daily routine you have with your children
included?  (Do you have diaper duty? Feeding the baby? etc)

At the moment my routine goes something like this:

Wake up around 6.30-7.30am (depending when our boys decide to wake up. I am then on ‘dad duty’ and get our eldest his breakfast, get him dressed/changed etc while my wife ‘V’ feeds our youngest.

V and I then tag team having showers and getting ourselves ready while the other one looks after the boys.

I usually start working between 8.30-9am and generally work through until 5pm. In that time I usually see the boys at least a couple of times whether it be for lunch, a walk to the park, getting them up from naps etc. My wife is primary care giver and does most of the work with the kids during the day.

At 5pm I hit the kitchen for the crazy hour/s. The next hour and a half includes getting dinner ready, feeding, cleaning up and bathing the boys and then giving our youngest a bottle feed just before bed. I don’t do all of that – but we share it.

I like to take our boys to bed (between 7 and 7.30pm) and that usually includes story time in bed (highlight of the day).

Once the boys are in bed I usually work again until 10.30 (in front of TV) and then I give our youngest his last feed before hitting the sack around 11pm.

5.  What is the best thing about being home with your baby? Are there
moments you wish you weren’t at home?

I just think it’s a privilege to see them during the day and to watch them do all the things that I’d miss if I were in an office somewhere. I love the flexibility that it brings and while it is challenging at times I love that I’m involved in their lives so much.

I do wish I were not at home at times and in fact try to get out of the house at least 1-2 mornings a week. I’ll usually take my laptop and work in a cafe on this mornings (I’m usually a lot more productive these days).

6.  What advice would you give other work at home dads? What advice
would you give a father deciding to quit his job to become a
work-at-home-dad?

I think the key for me is about establishing boundaries and communicating them. While family and work life do merge quite a bit I also try to set aside time for both. The key is to communicate what you’re doing and to send strong signals as to what time it is. For example I close my office door when I am in ‘work mode’ which is a signal to family that Dad’s doing something important and can’t be present.

When I’m working on less important things the door is open and when it’s family time the door is shut – not to keep the kids out but to keep ME out.

7.  Do you think there is a difference between wahm and wahd? Why? Or Why not?

I’ve not really thought about that one, mainly because I’ve not seen it. My wife has taken a year off from her employment after each of our boys were born to care for the kids and when she has worked it’s been outside the home so I’m not sure how it’d go with her working at home.

8.  What do you do when your child is sick? (since you can’t call it a sick day)

I try to have a few contingency plans in place for those times when family just has to take priority over work. For me it is about having blog posts ready to go in case of emergency and being able to see myself through at least one unscheduled day off. Luckily I’m in a job which I can do this relatively easily and between my wife and I (and grandparents if we need them) we usually work it out.

9.  How do you divide your work time with your family time? What are
some family time things you all do together?

Meals are a big one. We try to have breakfast and dinner together and sometimes lunches. Weekends are also almost completely about family (I used to work a lot more on weekends but have cut back). On weekends we try to get out of the house to parks, zoos, church, family and friends. I find getting out of the house particularly good at helping to separate myself from work as it is always tempting to fill up ‘down time’ with work when it is just in the next room.

10.  Do you find it hard to juggle working from home now that you have
two children? How do you remedy a situation that may take too much
time?

Having two instead of one has certainly increased the admin and logistics of our life – but I think we’ve adapted pretty well. Probably the main change I’ve made in the last year is to really cut back on working on weekends to enable more time for relaxing, giving my wife more downtime and spending time together.

11.  Many people say you leave work at the door, now as a blogger you
tend to already live in the house, can you leave it at the door? Got
any suggestions for those other fathers out there?

It can be hard – particularly when you have an iPhone and work is always a click of a button away. For me the main tip I’d give is to have a place in the house that is reserved just for work and to ‘leave it at the door’ (to that room). While I do bring work into our livingroom in the evenings – its after the kids are in bed. I try to be strict around those boundaries.

I think also having designated work hours can help. My wife and I have an understanding that 5pm is when I stop working – we both know this and work towards it. It is just another boundary that we’ve worked out to help us all function well.

12.  Can a work-at-home dad be successful and share in all those
beautiful moments with his family?

I think so. It’s certainly a juggling act but if you work at it and give those around you permission to keep you to the goals and boundaries that you set then I think it is achievable.

13.  What if anything, would you like to say?

I guess for me it comes down to priorities. I could probably work more hours, travel more, take on more projects – but family is more important to me than the extra money I could be earning. I want to not only invest into building an income for my family – I want to invest into my family itself – emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Building these foundations take time time but I believe that someday I’ll look back on my life and be more grateful for the time I had with people rather than the time I had with my computer

Darren Rowse
Work-at-Home-Dad

Thank you Darren.  I hope this shows all those future work-at-home-dads that it is possible and a very rewarding job. As Darren states, it doesn’t have to be something you are stuck at all day. He even talks about playing with his kids, feeding them, changing them and of course the people…not just the computer. What do you think? Got anything to add or would like to ask Darren? Comment below.