I took a handful of years off to be home with the young kid, what a wonderful experience. Getting back to work later wasn't hard. What I did, and do recommend,

I took a handful of years off to be home with the young kid, what a wonderful experience. Getting back to work later wasn't hard. What I did, and do recommend, is to do a little bit of consulting. I rarely did more than a few hours a week (and on some months nothing). But having a consulting company and a few real customers meant that companies saw me as legitimately self-employed (and I was, even if very low hours) instead of unemployed. (Did it make a difference? I don't know. But can't hurt.)