We 21st century dads are hip to the fact that we’re not babysitters (many of us even wear the t-shirt that says so!) but some people still don’t get it. We asked the active dads of our Facebook community to share a story about how they react to being called a babysitter instead of a parent. Here’s a sampling of what we heard.
Harold Sharkey: I hear the same thing every day. Out with me and my four little ones….. “daddy’s turn to babysit, you got your hands full” so I’m like yes every day….single dad life. Then I get stared at like I have two heads.
Derek Jenkins: I was at the grocery store with my girls one day and the cashier says, “You got stuck with the kids today, huh?”
I looked at her straight faced, and without hesitation, said, “I’m never ‘stuck’ with them.”
Dan Berg: If someone says this to me, and yes they still do even when I am out with my 3 boys, who are 6,7, and 8, the snark comes out. My typical response is “Nope, the babysitter is off.”
Petar Sabados: One of my most hated things that I hear. I’m a father. A dad. A parent. Not a glorified babysitter.And the other thing that burns me is the dirty, filthy looks I get when I walk into a parents room with my son to change him. Why are fathers looked down on like that.
Mike Rogers: This drives me crazy. I take my daughter everywhere, and, with the exception of the playground, I’m usually the only dad around. Get treated like a leper by all the moms.
Kevin Paris: When our daughter was born and we were still in the hospital a nurse came in. Ignoring me completely. She looked at my daughters mother and asked if she wanted her to take the baby to another room so her mother could take a shower. I looked at her and said excuse me? Do you not see me sitting here?
Paul Hutchins: For the last 10 years I’ve been a stay at home dad. I’m often getting comments like “day off work today?” No…every day being a stay at home dad is working still.
James McCart: My baby momma works weekends so I am solo with the kids every weekend which is fun and awesome even though we miss her on those days. But every time I take them anywhere it’s “oh a special daddy day huh?!”
Luis Escobar: It bugs me to no end. Or when people ask(ed) my wife who is going to help her with the baby…This guy right here. You know. The father.
Ben Huels: I took my son to Walmart and actually had someone ask me where his mom was when I told her we weren’t together she said “oh is it your weekend ” I couldn’t help but correct the lady saying every weekend is my weekend I’m his dad as well as the primary custodial parent.
Joshua Finch wraps this post up perfectly when he says: Sadly it’s the amount of so called dad’s out there that don’t do their part, makes us all look bad. There are still real father’s out there, that’s one of the things I enjoy about this page. Keep up the good work fellas, we will change the stereo type.
Thank you, Joshua! We’re trying and we’re happy to have you on our team!
Do you have something to add to the dads don’t babysit conversation? Share it with us on Facebook!
*Flickr photo by , used under Creative Commons license.