Becoming a SAHP: What to consider?

[araminem]

My DH is considering becoming a SAHP. I am OK with this, but would like to know that we are going into it with our eyes wide open. So any advice you can offer about what to consider before he takes the plunge?

About us: We have a 10mo DS. He should be starting with a childminder in January. However, we live in Scandinavia where we don't have much choice: you apply to the local council and you are offered a childminder. Everyone we talk to seem to say they thought their childminder was OK, but no one seems to be impressed by what they got but used it as they felt they had no other alternative (being a SAHP is very rare here).

It may get quite lonely for your husband - since everyone works, and people are a bit askance at the idea of a SAHP - I knew a grand total of one growing up, and that's a generation ago... Do you have a good social network, friends with kids working part-time perhaps?
Can you afford to keep his pension contributions going? What about going back to work, can he volunteer or keep his experience current in any other (verifiable) way? If you read the boards here, many people have to restart their careers.
Also, would both of you working part-time be feasible, considering you have quite strong legal entitlements to flexible working in Scandinavia? How about leave without pay, with the possibility of going back to the same job (probably more common in the public sector)?

Hi Scandichick. For some reason hadnøt realised you posted!

So we have actually decided to both go part time rather than him being a SAHP. My DH is Scandinavian, so we are 'home' for him. But as you say we were worried about how he would keep in contat with others (since SAHP is not a thing here! Especially for men).

Leave without pay does not seem an option for either of us though. We don't work in the public sector, so that might be it.