In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a small explosion of fathers staying around home to help raise their children. The most common explanation of this revolution is from “ecoMOMics”–mom works because dad lost his job in a tight market, or the better pay of the mother allows dad to stay full time with the child. But there are other men out there that have been helping to raise their children historically longer than the trend we see today. These stay-at-home dads are often overlooked statistically and fly under the radar of other self-identified stay-at-home dads.

Military Dads

The deployment of soldiers to the warfronts of the world often leave one parent to provide for the needs of their children. More commonly, that parent is the father. Women make up fourteen percent of our active duty forces. In the Navy, more than half of the 21,000 married naval women are married to a civilian stay-at-home dad. That’s a remarkable statistic, making military spouses the largest population of stay at home dads by demographic.  Still, in the testosterone driven world of the military, many men choose to remain quiet about the role they play in their family.

Teachers
With three months off in the summer, male teachers have a great opportunity to save costs on daycare and get some full-time bonding with their kids.  Rarely identifying themselves as stay at home dads, at the playground they will simply introduce themselves as “teachers.”

Gay Fathers

When you see a dad at the park it doesn’t necessarily mean his wife is the breadwinner. Perhaps it’s because child’s the other dad is in some distant cubicle working for a paycheck. Parenting choices know no sexual orientation, and gay parents often agree they want one parent actively involved in their child’s upbringing. Because their partnerships are not legally recognized, (yet), there are no census statistics supporting their numbers.