Courtesy of Liz Gendreau
The author, Liz Gendreau, and her three sons.
- Liz Gendreau, the Chief Mom Officer, is a 38-year-old MBA who works as an IT program manager at a large company, making a six-figure salary. Her husband, Todd, stays at home with their three boys, ages 14, 10, and 3.
- She's been the primary breadwinner since shortly after they were married, over 16 years ago.
- She's spent over a year interviewing dozens of other successful women in her "Breadwinning, Six-Figure, Millionaire Women" series.
- A few of the biggest things she wishes people understood: Dads who stay at home aren't babysitting, her situation isn't "lucky," and there are more female breadwinners than you may think.
Being a breadwinning mom with a husband who stays at home with your three boys can be amazing.
When I need to travel for work, I don't need to worry about who will watch the kids. When I stay late and have dinner with the executives, I don't need to rush home to relieve the sitter. I'm able to go to conferences across the country and Skype with the boys without worrying about them. I come home from a 12-hour workday to dinner already made, kids shuttled to and from their activities, a clean house, and laundry already put away. When someone needs to get the car fixed, run to the bank, or take care of a sick kid, the "someone" isn't me.
That doesn't mean it's all sunshine and roses though.
My husband, our boys, and I are all happy with how we run our family - but other people often aren't. Sometimes they're confused, other times they're defensive, and they often make assumptions about us that just aren't true. I've gotten so many different comments over the years that it's pretty obvious there are a lot of things other people don't understand about families like mine.
So today I'm going to dispel the myths and talk about some of the things I've noticed other people just don't understand.