I came in to mention this. “Dad, 28 t-shirts?” “It’s on Mom’s list.” “There’s a squirrel in the cart.” “If it’s on the list…”
Probably because my mom hates to shop and Pop does all the shopping these days, and all except grocery shopping when we were little.
Although I must say he left my mom alone (worked and then hung out at night) when they first had us, and it’s not like she knew what to do with babies either!!
When someone asks me if Dave babysits the kids while I’m out, I look at them and tell them “It’s called parenting”. I can’t believe how many people are so idiotic. Do they think that once he came, his part was over?
Fuck! :smack:
Whenever my 2 year old needs changing, he calls out in a loud voice “DAAAAADYYYYY… poopy diaper!”
Think he’s figured out whose job that is in our household?
I’ve always done at LEAST half of the baby care in our household. But my experience has been a bit different from the OP’s. I don’t encounter women who assume I do nothing. Rather, I meet women who are far too quick to give me WAY too much credit for what I do.
I mean, my wife works full time just as I do, so there’s never been any reason to regard baby care as her job. And since we adopted our son, and my wife wasn’t breast feeding, there was never any reason I couldn’t feed him when it was necessary.
So, it’s always felt a little WEIRD to me when women have praised me highly for my efforts. I never felt like I was doing anything special- it’s my JOB to take care of my little guy. And most of my male friends with kids do as much as I do. So, it’s never seemed like a big deal to me. Certainly not something I deserve hosannas for.
The only way a father could babysit (and even this would be a stretch) would be if he lost custody of them. You should look atthese people with shock and confusion and say, “Babysit? What? We’re still together. Did you think we got a divorce? I still live with them; they’re my kids. I don’t have to babysit, I’m still raising them!”
If asked by a woman, you should reply, “Oh, yes, I do at times. Does your husband let you go out alone often?”
If asked by a man, then: “Well, of course I do! Does your wife mind that you work outside of the home?”
Just let them see how ugly the attitude really is.
Tris
Oh, yeah. It was waaaaaay before Homer Simpson.
I was born in '56 and strange women used to try to grab me when my dad was carrying me. They really thought he’d mess up and drop me or something. Or they were trying to reinforce the idea that this was THEIR turf, thank you. Either way, he was offended.
In fact, he was still pissed about it when I was in high school.