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Economics

More Men Are Staying Out of the Workforce to Care for Kids

Government statistics undercount the number of men taking on full-time caregiving responsibilities.

Ryan Burdick and sons Walter, 10, and George, 7, at home in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Ryan Burdick and sons Walter, 10, and George, 7, at home in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Photographer: Sarah Rice for Bloomberg Businessweek
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For Ryan Burdick, the incessant questions about when he plans to go back to work have gotten old. So has the “Mr. Mom” label.

Still, the 38-year-old father of two says he has no regrets about his decision 10 years ago to step away from his burgeoning career as a commercial pilot to care for his children full time. “My joke forever has been, ‘I’m retired,’ when people ask me what I do,” says Burdick, whose wife, Stephanie, 36, is a physician at a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.