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CNN Live Saturday

Stay at Home Dad Finds Choice Rewarding

Aired June 16, 2001 - 16:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Being a stay at home dad is not a job for slackers. There are diapers and dishes and boo-boos galore; enough, maybe, to drive some men back into the workforce.

But for the man who is up to the challenge of raising small children, this Father's Day tribute from CNN's Christy Feig is for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE HAYES, STAY AT HOME DAD: Hey Laurie (ph) and Grant (ph), one more minute until it's time to come down.

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's almost 8:00 a.m. Carol (ph) Hayes has already left for the office. Her husband Joe is just starting his workday as a stay-at-home dad.

HAYES: When you're done eating, just brush your teeth and then I'll do your hair, OK.

The cooking and the brushing of the hair, no, that's a learned skill for me.

FEIG: Then it's off to school.

HAYES: Wow, we got here early today.

FEIG: When Joe and Carol Hayes decided to start a family. She had better benefits, so he stayed home. Now three children later, he's still happy with his choice.

HAYES: I just think their emotional growth and their social growth, I think, is more enriched than it would have been if both my wife and I were working.

FEIG: There are an estimated 2 million fathers who stay at home. But experts think the numbers are actually much higher because there is no firm definition for a stay at home dad.

HAYES: Oh, lost our bananas.

FEIG: Joe Hayes used to supervise technical support at a bank. He's been in charge at home for seven years.

HAYES: My wife can focus on work and not have to worry about where the children are, or picking a sick child up from school.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Hey, be nice to daddy!

FEIG: For Laurie, Grant and Elliot (ph), this isn't unusual. One of their uncles also stays at home. Another is a single father.

HAYES: They do ask sometimes, well, why does so-and-so's dad work, or why does so-and-so's mom stay home.

FEIG: One expert says dads raise children differently than moms, not necessarily better or worse.

DR. ROBERT FRANK, AUTHOR, "PARENTING PARTNERS": Dads tend to play rougher with kids; dads tend to let kids explore a little bit more.

FEIG: It's almost 5:00 p.m. now, and mom's home from the office.

HAYES: My day's about over.

FEIG: Compared to his days in banking, Hayes says it's a little more tiring, but a lot more satisfying.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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