When I meet people and they find out that I’m a travel nurse, traveling with my family, they have two main questions. What does your husband do, is he a nurse, too? And, what do you do about school for your kids. I’d say those are two very natural questions and I never have any problems answering.
Well, when we decided that we would pick up our family to travel full time we decided that the only way it would work is if my husband quit his job to stay home with the kids. This might be difficult for some couples. I know that to some people it seems like a role reversal. I know in some relationships the man may have a difficult time making less money than the woman. Also, some women may feel they are being taken advantage of while her man is at home ‘eating bon-bons and watching soaps on the couch’. We have been married almost sixteen years and while we’ve had bumps along the way this way of life has been going well for us. When we got married we took the what is mine is his and what is his is mine or what is mine is mine and what is his is mine… just kidding. We are in this journey together for the long haul.
I know every family is different, but I never would have been happy moving the kids from school to school. Actually, our kids have always been homeschooled. So the only thing that has changed with school is that I no longer teach school. My husband has taken over all the teaching and school responsibilities. And he does a great job at teaching, I really think he does a much better job than I did. I see he is much more diligent in areas where I was a bit slacking. He is better at math than I am. When I struggled teaching math prior to our travel days, he would help me out. I sometimes tend to be a little bit better at Language Arts than he is, so when he struggles with that, I help out.
My husband has also taken over menu planning, grocery shopping and cooking. I still cook occasionally and sometimes shop or help shop, but he does the majority. When we are between assignments and I’m not working I do try to cook more (or pick up take-out more) so that he gets he gets a bit of a break.
So when I’m asked what my husband does for a living I usually say that he quit he job so that we can travel, he’s a house husband, and takes care of our children. His job is just as important as mine, if not more important than mine. I couldn’t do what I do without him. I wouldn’t want to.
Leave a Reply