Mother Knows Best? Once while being prepared for a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay-at-home fathers. I made the point that one reason we're seeing more stay-at-home dads may be that it's no longer a given (a known fact) that a man makes more money than his wife. Many families now take earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home. At that point, one of the male crew members commented, almost to himself but loud enough for my benefits, "It should be the better parent who stays at home". A lot of guys say things like that. I was a stay-at-home father for eight years, so what he said made me excited. It implied that our family's choice could only have been correct if I was a "better" parent than my wife. I think men shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of thinking. I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the "better" parent: she had spent more time with our son, could read him better and calm him more quickly. And given a choice, he'd have picked her over me. But as she was the more employable one, my wife went out to work and I looked after our son. Know what? I caught up. Because of the increased time I spent with him, I soon knew him well, understood what he needed and could look after him more or less as my wife could.  Actually, the experience helped me unlock one of the world's great secrets: Women are good at looking after the children because they do it. It's not because of any born female gift or a mother's instinct-which I think is mostly learned anyway. It's because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job. Women obviously get a biological head start from giving birth and nursing, but over the long term experience is more important. When I got the experience myself, I was good, too. As good? I don't know. Who cares? Children are not made of glass. Other people are capable of looking after them besides Mom. The author decided to stay at home eight years ago because   _  .
it was easier for his wife to find a job he thought he was the better father their son liked him a little bit better he was earning more than his wife did