Father highlights the different attitudes of society towards male and female homemakers

Societal constructs limit men and women in particular roles. In recent years, there has been an attempt to change this perspective, and people have crossed boundaries to create lives that would make them happy. Unfortunately, society has not loosened its grip when it comes to stereotypes pushed on men and women in various areas. Still, there are raised eyebrows when a man chooses to be a primary caretaker in a household and a woman takes up the earning responsibility. Reddit user u/TeachingKey5148 shared an incident where he was suspected of being a predator just because he was a man in the playground looking after his daughters. It is an action done by hundreds and thousands of mothers every day and never causes any doubts, but just because the situation involved a man, all the dynamics changed.

At the beginning of the post, the father gave a little bit of context about his situation, "I'm a stay-at-home dad to two daughters, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old. I love being a stay-at-home dad and husband. I love being a homemaker, essentially. Cooking, cleaning, and, of course, looking after my girls turned out to be my passion." When his friends knew about his decision, he became the subject of insults and jokes. "They made jokes about me being a beta or a boywife," the man explained. He further shares how this is the kind of reception he receives on all fronts of society for taking up "traditionally women's duties."

The incident that went a bit too far for him happened when he was spending time with his daughters in a park. He quickly noted that a mother was monitoring him closely. She had also come there with a kid, but rather than attending to the child, all her focus was on the man. After a while, she directly came up to him and asked, "Excuse me, sir, why are you looking at those little girls?" The father politely responded, "I'm their father. Is there an issue ma'am?" The woman had none of it and accused him of being a "creep" and warned him that if he didn't leave, she would call the cops. The man was flabbergasted but kept his calm and decided to get out. He did not want cops to get involved and make his daughter go through something distasteful. 

This incident hurt him deeply as he is sure that if not for being a man, this would not have happened to him. "The worst part of all of this is that had I been a woman, I might have made a mom-friend," he added. The man writes of one of his friends who works at a daycare and is not allowed alone with children, while his female colleagues have no such restrictions. He ended with a simple message, "We really need to normalize men taking childcare roles."

The comment section understood his situation and gave their takes. u/Visual-Computer6351 shared how she handles such intrusion,  "My fiance has had the same happen to him. Except when he was questioned and yelled at, I was right behind him (I'm 5'1 and he's 6'2). Apparently, it's kind of scary to have a short, angry mum lose their temper in a shopping center. People like that overthink and have nothing more to worry about than other people's lives, that's why their noses are so close to their asses, they have nothing else to do." u/jmcgil4684 commented his personal experience, "I'm a white guy with 3 young black daughters. I had T-shirts made with their pictures on them for me to wear when we go hiking or to the pool or if they come to my work or the grocery. I've had an incident at all the places I've mentioned. Twice with police involved."