That phrase is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I cringe inside every time I hear people say that to me when I am out and about with my daughters. People reading this article may think I am blowing this out of proportion, but as a stay at home dad, I am not.  I feel when people say that to me they think that Halley’s Comet flies by Earth more often than me hanging out with my daughters.

One day last week it seemed to happen everywhere I went. I first stopped at the vet for my cat’s check up. The technician came into the room and said, ‘You girls are with daddy today? That must be fun.’ I wanted to say that they are with me all the time, but no I did not. The technician checked out my cat and left and then a veterinarian specialist came in and said ‘You girls are with daddy today? That must be exciting.’ Again I wanted to say something, but my oldest Lily said to the veterinarian, ‘Daddy is always with us.’ That’s my girl. She did a great job sticking up for dear old dad. The vet looked at me with a bit of amazement when I told her that I am the stay at home dad.

Next we went to the mall and a clerk right on cue said, ‘You girls are with daddy today? It must be nice.’ The same thing happened at the restaurant where we ate at for lunch. So you can see in one day I had a few people say to my daughters that it was nice of me to hang out with them and take them with me that day. I know that even though there are more dads staying home with the kids it still feels like when I go to certain places being the stay at home dad is a foreign concept or that a father would want to hang out with his kids.

No one goes up to a mother who is taking their kids somewhere and make a big deal that they are hanging out with her. Even though I should be used to it by now it is still frustrating. Am I way off on this or do other dads see my point?