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San Tan Valley father writing survival guide for stay-at-home dads

Posted at 11:03 PM, Mar 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-29 16:32:20-04

Ask any parent and they will tell you staying at home and raising three small kids is no easy task.

Kalili Hunt was a stay at home dad and juggled a lot.

From being a tutor, a hairdresser, dishwasher and everything in between, it is a lot of hard work as new crises emerge from even routine activities.

"The other day, we were at the grocery store, and one of my kids knocked down a whole shelf of spaghetti sauce,” said Hunt. “It shattered everywhere, the next minute I know, they're over there swimming in it."

Hunt said he began writing down his experiences about two years ago and remembers there weren’t many parenting books written specifically for stay at home dads such as himself.

He soon found other guys in the same boat.

"My wife is the director of the hospital,” said Jose Orta. “So I would go to these big banquets [with my wife] and the first thing they ask you is: ‘What do you do?’ ‘And, I'm a stay at home dad,” Orta explained.

While their wives were at work, the group of dads collected their stories.

They even wrote about the unconventional gender roles and pressure from society.

They put together some other tips to create “The Survival Guide for Dads.”

The book boils down to a step by step guide with helpful tips from pleasing mom to juggling a workout schedule.

Hunt says it’s filled with stuff he wished he knew about from the beginning, instead of having to pick it up as he went along. Being a stay at home parent is harder than he ever could have imagined.

Hunt says his biggest advice is to pay attention to the small details of parenting and to make sure stay at home parents make time just for themselves.

Hunt is trying to get the book published using crowdfunding through a Kickstarter campaign. He wants to have copies of the book available by June, just in time for Father’s Day. Details on the project can be found by clicking here.