• Sam Simon
• The Amato family: Jeffrey, 44, Donata, 41, Aniela, 9, Edgar, 4, and Mira, 1, at their Essex home

Kids VT: Jeffrey, you're a stay-at-home dad to these three kiddos! How long have you been at it?

Jeffrey: I've been home a little over a year. I stopped work before Mira was born. I had a job where I was traveling 100 days out of the year. And that was tough enough with two kids! So when we decided to have a third baby, we knew I couldn't keep doing that. I could have looked for another job, but when we started looking at the price of childcare and afterschool things for all three of them, it just didn't make sense. We realized I'd basically be working to pay for all of those things.

KVT: What's a typical day like for you with the kids?

Jeffrey: We all get up around 6, and we leave the house at 7:15. We drop off Edgar at preschool, then Mira and I will go for a walk, and she naps. We pick Edgar up at 11, then we do things around here — play outside or ride bikes. Mira still naps in the afternoon too, so we don't go too far! We do like ECHO a lot, and now it's T-ball season for Edgar. Aniela gets home from school on the bus around 4.

KVT: So it's working out well for you all?

Jeffrey: Yeah, it takes a lot of stress off. Before, when one of the kids was sick or had an appointment, Donata and I would go back and forth in the morning about who would call out from work to stay home with them. So that's much easier. It's also great because I get to do a lot of projects around the house I didn't have time for before. Last summer I painted our whole house!