I have been a stay at home dad for 12 years. As a result I’m incredibly thick skinned and I can take most of the comments I get.

I can laugh off the random strangers who comment “Giving mum a break, are we?” as I, along with up to three children, fight our way round the supermarket.

3 Father-of-three Ian confirms that raising children is the hardest job in the world Credit: Ian Blyth

We’ve got used to ignoring people who pass comment about my wife spending "my money", on clothes, or anything for that matter. We can take it. We’re both used to it.

I’ve spent the last 12 years as the only stay-at-home dad I know.

And I’ve made it up as I’ve gone along; no comforting support from mummy blogs to make me feel better about myself or reassure me that I am wonderful, hard working and amazing (this is the hardest job in the world!).

Or even any reassurance that there are other men doing this.

Society, we all know, hasn’t come to terms with equality, even when it comes to looking after children.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been stranded without a place to feed or change my children when they were small.

The average men’s toilet doesn’t cater for the needs of a father with a young child in tow.

3 The devoted dad didn't have the support of other stay-at-home dads and didn't use the comforting mummy blogs either Credit: Ian Blyth

On one occasion, a saleswoman in one London department store (in the baby section!) advised I go to the men’s toilet to feed my eight-month-old. I did. It was, as she said, a toilet.

I wouldn’t have fed my dog in it. It took the menswear department staff to suggest the women’s toilets on another floor that had a Utopian feeding and changing area in it.

I fed my son and changed him, but felt pretty uncomfortable thanks to several mums who avoided any eye contact whatsoever whilst there.

Raising children is difficult, tough, exhausting and at times downright depressing. I’ve lost count of the times that I’ve started drinking fairly early on in the day as a result of sheer boredom and lack of adult company.

But the drinking does nothing to shed the heavy burden of guilt I feel. That guilt rests entirely at the feet of my inability to earn money for my family.

3 Ian has been a stay-at-home dad for the last 12 years Credit: Ian Blyth

My children’s friends all have fathers who earn money. Good money.

And as a father who doesn’t, I feel let down and isolated as a result of society's inability to accept that my life isn’t weird. As a man I often find my very masculinity is defined by my job or career.

A social occasion with other parents very often turns into the usual split, where the men talk about work, and the women talk about kids. I always find I fall into the middle somewhere. A kind of no man’s land which is incredibly emasculating – who wants to talk to Mr Mum?

As a stay-at-home dad I do all the fixing, building, renovating. My list of credentials currently reads like a general builder and handyman with 10-15 years experience, but I also do most of the parenting.

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I have learned to be very diplomatic over the years; having three children ensures a healthy dose of diplomacy is applied to most daily arguments, of child or adult nature.

I don’t slag my wife off for being lazy at the school gates, but can tell you exactly what my neighbour’s husband didn’t do yesterday.

Yes, I often feel my wife doesn't realise the amount of stuff I actually do.

I feel overlooked and useless, and completely exhausted. But just as this is tough for me, I know it is for her too.

She carries the immense burden of being the sole provider to our family, and like me, struggles to relate to other ‘traditional’ families.

She keeps our home running, by giving up her own time to someone else, every week, year upon year. Just as I do, for our children. It’s just a shame that we aren’t seen as the trailblazers we in reality truly are.

The Sun spoke to a parenting expert revealed how much affection you should be giving your kids.

Sun columnist Karen Brady insisted that while "No" is often the hardest word for a parent to say, it is the most important.

And earlier this year we spoke to a parenting expert who explained the best way to speak to children about the London terror attacks.