Pregnant Mom With A Full-Time Job Finds Her Husband's After Work Routine Unfair — 'I Do All The Work'
Balance is essential when it comes to raising a family.
Kateryna Onyshchuk / Shutterstock Balancing a full-time job while raising a family is no easy task.
It takes a village as kids require constant attention and support — one parent can only do so much.
A pregnant mom took to Reddit aggravated by her husband’s ‘unfair’ work routine.
In her since-deleted post, the woman explained that she is eight months pregnant and both she and her husband work full-time. She alternates between working from home and in the office, and he works about 60 hours a week outside of the home.
“Lately, I’ve been getting really annoyed with how the after-work time goes,” she wrote. “I pick up my son at about 4:40; we’re home at 5. Husband comes in and says hi for a second and immediately retreats to either the office where he plays video games for the next hour or outside in the spring and summer to do whatever with his pond.”
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock
“I’m just like, what makes you think that that’s fine to do while I do everything else,” she added.
After a long work day, it’s natural for individuals to resort to their form of rest and comfort, but when you are a parent, the work day doesn’t come to an end that easily.
Rather, both parents must work together to balance their responsibilities and give each other the chance to relax. According to the mom, it appears her husband has selfishly prioritized his time to relax while neglecting hers.
The mom didn’t provide additional context to how they balance other responsibilities, but based on her tone, it seems she is taking on a heavy load for her family, and he isn’t being as helpful as she’d like him to be.
Reddit users emphasized the importance of parents balancing responsibilities and considering each other’s needs.
Given that she's in the third trimester of her pregnancy, it’s understandable why she’s feeling drained and frustrated, especially if her husband isn’t supporting her enough.
After communicating this issue with him, he claimed he just needed “some time.” She, however, struggled to understand why he couldn’t wait until after their son went to bed to take time to himself.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting some solo time to decompress after work, but it’s important to be fair,” one user commented. “Both me and my husband get a half hour of solo time each night while our daughter is awake. I happen to think one-on-one time with both parents is important. So it’s a win-win for us.”
“It’s crunch time, sometimes you gotta sacrifice the solo time. One little one and one about to enter this world. Mama needs to rest,” someone else wrote.
“It’s not mentioned, but I imagine mum does a majority, if not all, of the housework while spouse is twiddling his thumbs. Plus, I can’t imagine wanting to play video games instead of bonding with my kid… they are only young once.”
“We try to split everything in the house and with the kiddo. So one of us isn’t really allowed to be relaxing while the other is doing something,” another parent shared. “If I feel my husband isn’t pulling his weight I say something, otherwise I become angry and resentful.”
Parents each deserve time to decompress and recharge, but they have to help each other.
While working full-time outside the home can certainly take a toll on someone’s energy by the end of the day, it doesn't justify allowing their partner, who is also working full-time, to take on most of the parenting responsibilities.
If single parents can somehow manage to do it all on their own, with little to no help, then co-parents in a marriage can certainly find a fair balance where both of their needs are being met.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, adventure, and spirituality topics.