Dad 'Loses It' After His Wife Tells Him It's His Job To Help With The Kids During His Week Off From Work
You don't get a week off from parenting.
Sharonda / Shutterstock After a father took off work for a week, he insisted that his wife, who is a stay-at-home mom, sit back and relax while he took over kid duty.
However after just one day, he “lost it” on his wife after she suggested that he prepare dinner and reminded him that it was all part of his job as a dad.
The man was not prepared to take on parenting duties during his week off from work.
In a since-deleted post, the wife explained that she is a stay-at-home mom of two kids while her husband works full-time. “I am usually in charge of the day-to-day routines/schedules/activities, cooking meals, etc. It works out for us,” she wrote.
Recently, her husband decided to take a week-long paid vacation. On the first day, he offered to take care of the kids and household duties for the entire day so that his wife could have some time for herself.
“I ran some errands, and while out I spoke with my husband briefly about dinner,” she shared. “He asked if I would be home for dinner, to which I replied yes.”
On his first day home, the dad offered to take over for his wife so she could have a break, but things took a turn.
When she arrived home later that day, her husband asked her what she wanted to do for dinner.
“I told him I assumed he would have already figured that out, seeing as it’s getting close to bedtime for the kids,” she wrote. “He said there was no food in the house and would go out to the store to grab groceries.”
Pixel-Shot / Shutterstock
However, since it was getting late, the woman suggested that her husband order takeout for dinner instead of cooking.
Her husband noticed that his wife was annoyed by the entire dinner situation and asked what was wrong. He believed that since he “helped” with his kids all day, his wife should have made sure dinner was taken care of.
However, his wife had a different perspective. “When I told him it’s not helping, he’s their dad and it’s part of his job, he lost it and told me I’m being an [expletive],” the woman wrote.
Now, she's wondering if it was reasonable of her to expect her husband to take care of dinner.
Most people believed that the father needed to step up as a parent, even during time off from work.
“You don't 'help look after' the kids you've brought into the world; it's called basic parenting,” one person commented.
“He's ridiculous. Helped all day with the kids? As in, had to be a parent to his children?” another noted.
YuriArcurs | Canva Pro
“He can’t tell you to relax for the day and also be mad that you didn’t handle dinner,” another user wrote. “You are also right that him spending time with his own children is not helping. It’s what he’s expected to do.”
A dad isn't exempt from his parenting responsibilities just because he works full-time.
Even if his wife’s primary job is taking care of the children and household, it does not mean that she should be the only one doing so.
It takes two to make children. It should take two to raise them. Yet many mothers continue to feel unsupported by their partners and tackle most of the parenting and household responsibilities on their own.
According to Pew Research, 78% of moms say they do the bulk of scheduling for their families, 58% feel they do the majority of the emotional support for their children, and 57% with kids over 5 are doing the leg work when it comes to handling their basic needs like feeding them dinner.
Dejan Dunajerski / Shutterstock
Instead of depending on mothers, and only mothers, to do all of the cooking, cleaning, disciplining, and handling every school and birthday party drop-off, we should start expecting fathers to be involved parents even after they are off the clock.
A day off from work does not mean a day off from parenting.
Megan Quinn is a staff writer who covers human interest stories, self-help, and relationships.