Dad sparks debate for demanding 'morning off' from parenting duties at weekends

21 November 2022, 11:21

A dad has asked for the morning off baby duties. Picture: Getty Images

A dad has asked for parenting device on Reddit, but other users have branded him 'insensitive'.

One man has been slammed after he claimed he needs the mornings off parenting duties.

The anonymous man and his wife share a six month old baby girl, and while he works full time, his partner ‘takes care of the household duties’.

But on the weekends, the couple agreed to ‘share parenting’, which means the man has to get up on Saturdays and Sundays to feed his little one.

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The post on Reddit reads: "My wife and I have a six month old baby girl. She's mostly a stay-at-home mum, she works two half days a week and her sister watches the baby. I work full time and go to school one day a week."

A man has shared a message on Reddit. Picture: Reddit

"We've always had an arrangement where she takes care of the household duties , (cooking, cleaning, and now baby care), while I happily support her monetarily."

He goes on to say they are ‘both living our dream life’ and his wife does 'an absolutely spectacular job’ taking care of him and their baby.

Unfortunately, their daughter has been waking up every two hours, with the man’s wife asking him to tend to her in the mornings.

"She's a light sleeper and unfortunately has insomnia, whereas I am a deep sleeper and wouldn't wake up for baby cries anyways,” he said.

“Recently my wife has been asking me to wake up with the baby both days on the weekends so she can get an extra hour of sleep. Baby wakes up around 7am. I get the baby dressed and take over for that hour.

A man has asked for parenting advice. Picture: Getty Images

"But sometimes, I want to be the one that gets to sleep in an extra hour."

After he approached the subject with his wife, they ended up in an argument when she suggested he nap in the day because she has trouble sleeping.

He went on: “She said I'm being very insensitive when I know she is very exhausted and can't nap during the day and she struggles going back to sleep every time the baby wakes up."

The dad added: "I'm exhausted too, work wears me out, and school days are long and I sometimes want the hour in the morning.

“I don't want to spend my off time napping, I want to play videogames and chill out."

Unsurprisingly, the post attracted a lot of comments, with many people calling him out.

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Someone said: "If you did not want to make sacrifices personally, physically, financially, emotionally, and mentally, then you should not have had a child.

“I hope you get a grip on this and sort out your priorities so that this baby has a healthy 18 years living with you."

Someone else said: “If she's taking all the night duty because you don't wake up, then you get the morning duty when you do wake up so she can catch up on her lost sleep in the night.

“You want a morning off, give her a night off.”

Another wrote: "I'm never certain why people choose to have kids and then complain how hard it is.

“Yah. Like, duh, being a parent is hard. But this is what you asked for. Once you choose to bring a life into this world, that child becomes YOUR world."