Man lies about his wife being dead in response to boomer's comment on childcare

Household chores and childcare are often seen as a woman's job. So, when some people see kids with their fathers, they think the man is doing something extraordinary. One father, tired of these assumptions, decided to take a different approach. The dad, u/ElboDelbo, shared his experience on Reddit, and people on the platform had a good laugh.

The man shared that the incident happened a few years ago, before the pandemic, when he was working from home. "Since I was the one working from home, I generally did most of the childcare stuff. My job at the time was pretty flexible so if I disappeared for a little while no one knew or cared. As such, I would take my son to the park or grocery shopping or whatever as the need arose." However, he said that every single time some boomer would ask him, "'Oh, is it mommy's day off?'"

He then went on to talk about one particular instance that happened at a grocery store. He was about to check out from the store and his son was very fidgety. The man wrote, "I was trying to manage him and he was just in a straight-up pissy mood, which wasn't helping my mood. Sure enough, at the worst possible time, I hear it: 'Must be mom's day off!'" He turned around to see who it was and it was an old lady smiling at him. He told her, "My wife had an aneurysm while giving birth and passed away. Every day is mom's day off."

The elderly woman started to apologize while he continued to check out. "Maybe an anti-climatic ending, but I felt good about it for weeks afterward. By the way, my wife is fine," he concluded. Dads could completely relate to this situation. u/bamacpl4442 commented, "Lol. I've always been an active, involved dad. I'll take my kids to the park and even - gasp - play with them there. I've gotten those sorts of comments before like, 'It's Mom's day off,' 'It must be Dad's weekend.' I'll just smile sweetly and say, 'Nah, I just love my kids and like to spend time with them.' The confusion on their faces is hilarious." u/slowhandz49 wrote, "You could take it one step further and really freak them out with 'my kid has two dads.'"

u/LongjumpingTeacher97 shared, "I (male) used to be the at-home parent. For about 17 years, actually. The number of times people called me 'Mister Mom' was insane. I finally started asking if they'd call my wife Mrs. Dad. Then I'd tell them no, of course they wouldn't because they recognize that assigning a gender role to a job is abusive and sexist, right? Right?" u/303uru commented, "I always respond, 'Nope, I'm just a good dad.' Really blows their mind as they have to contend with the fact that their husbands or selves weren't there."