'I don’t regret doing it all': At-Home-Dad-Convention takes place in Milwaukee

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A group of stay-at-home dads from across the nation will be calling Milwaukee home for the next couple of days.

It's all a part of an annual convention that takes place Sept. 22-23. It offers support for an often-overlooked group of parents.

"I don’t regret doing it all, I wake up every day excited to see my son, and sometimes that mood changes very drastically and very quickly, and other days they're great just like any other job, there's good days, there's bad days, but I'm very grateful what I get to do," said Greg Clapp, co-founder of Milwaukee Dads Group.

Dads cleaned up Pere Marquette Park on Thursday, Sept. 21. It was all a part of the annual at-home dad convention, and while they may be picking up trash, they are breaking a stigma.

"I think it's starting to turn around a bit, I don’t know if it would have been the same way 20 years ago, even 10 years ago," said Clapp.

The national convention offering a sense of community for stay-at-home dads.

"Some of it is very practical, and some of it is more philosophical personal development, you know mental health and making sure that you're keeping yourself healthy in that way," said Clapp.

For many of these fathers, becoming a stay-at-home dad was not necessarily a choice, but their new purpose in life.

"How do I provide for him (child)? How do I support him? And how do I figure out all the mechanism of being unemployed at the same time," said Jonathan Heisey-Grove, president of the National At-Home Dad Network.

Heisey-Grove went on to say, stay-at-home dads are here to stay.

"Hearing things like, "oh, it's cute that you're out" or "it's nice to see you" as if it were a unicorn. We are not unicorns. We are just simple parents that are trying to do the best for their kids."

"It afforded me opportunities to see my son grow and learn that I would have missed otherwise," said Clapp.