Welcome to Homo domesticus. A blog by a stay-at-home dad.

Homo domesticus is the scientific name for Man at Home. It’s a play on the name of our species Homo sapiens, which means wise man. In scientific literature it would be shortened to H. domesticus on subsequent references, so Hdomesticus it will be. Plus that is the only website address and twitter handle that is readily available!

I choose this name, because it represents what I do, and it pays homage to science. I believe in science. I’ve got a degree in zoology. And I like to think I’m playing some small part in reclaiming the word “Homo” back from the pejorative.

This name gives my blog scope to evolve. As I look at the landscape ahead of me I see hundreds of possible paths I could follow. Mountains are part of my life. They will appear in some from, as will confronting Middle Age.

Primarily, this will be a blog about my experiences as a stay-at-home dad, negotiating my way through a largely female world. But, at this point, I don’t feel the need to limit it to that. Maybe the odd discussion of something scientific will creep in here.

I have a post about embryos and their fathers and mothers. It is not stay-at-home as such, but in the broader realm of gender relations. At this point I should probably heed the advice of my Journalism Professor, Tony Reid, former editor of the New Zealand Listener who took me aside when I wrote a story about a pregnant woman starting a new business and used a birthing metaphor. He sat at his desk, wringing his forearms and declared that as men we probably would never understand why, but it was best to avoid any foray into female business during my career.

Truth is I have toyed with writing a blog before. In its earlier iteration it was more a glorified journal. I could never quite find a balance between the public and the private world. I don’t want to blog all my family secrets, which is a challenge when being a family man is your topic. So those posts remain private. If I find my feet and a free moment perhaps I’ll rework them into this new format.

Thanks to Emily Peck of the Huffington Post. She tracked me down for a story on being a stay-at-home dad. In the course of our conversation I dusted off my first post about the trouble I had listing my Occupation as a Stay-at-Home Dad. And to Arianna who decided I should give it another shot.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I have gone on since then. I’ve enjoyed my little creative spurt. Will it last? Will the soup hundreds of possible topics swirling in my head slowly simmer away? Will it coalesce into a sharper brew?

Does anyone actually care? We will see how it all evolves.

The cover photo is panorama taken from Mt. Roy above Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. Its where I used to holiday as a child. One of my fondest memories is cresting the ridge and finally seeing the high peaks above the Matukituki valley (to the left in this shot), with Mt. Aspiring towering above them all.