Man refuses to be a stay-at-home dad despite initial agreement with wife, sparks debate

The responsibility of raising a child at home typically falls on the mother's shoulders. One can be lucky to have a supportive husband who does his part to raise a child alongside the mother, but in most cases, women have to make countless sacrifices. Similarly, u/Pretty_Cycle_3807 shared a personal story where she refused to quit her job to look after her baby since there was a prior agreement between herself and her husband before they became parents.

The woman started her post by revealing that she is a 33-year-old lawyer and her husband is 34 years old and works in an office. Between them, the woman is the one who makes the most money, so when she got pregnant, both of them decided that her husband would act as a stay-at-home father for their daughter or at least stay at home until she was old enough. "It's been 2 months since I gave birth to our daughter and I'm planning on going back to work next month," the new mom revealed. "My husband told me last week that it would be better if I quit my job and take care of the baby and he could provide for us."

The woman refused to do that and reminded her husband that there was no good reason for her to quit her job. "I earn more than him and I actually like my job, whereas he hates his job and earns a lot less than me. Plus, we literally agreed that I'd work and he'd look after our daughter. I don't understand what's changed. He called me a bad mom and he's been really upset with me since. We've been fighting about it a lot because he keeps bringing it up. It was his idea to have a child and he told me he was happy to be a stay-at-home dad."

u/Far_Negotiation_8693 wrote, "Imagine being able to grow up and say your mom is a lawyer that would be awesome for a girl to have. If my mom gave up a career she worked super hard at to give it up to raise me, I feel that would be a bit of pressure not knowing if I could live up to the comparison of what she gave up.." u/_Ocean_Machine_ quipped, "For real, whenever my mom told me about the sacrifices she made to raise my sister and me, it never made me feel proud, just guilty about being alive. On the other hand, as a guy with a partner who's currently more successful than I am, it just inspires me to work harder and achieve more. Granted, not being an insecure manchild probably helps."

u/onlythebitterest shared, "I grew up with my mum as the main breadwinner! She works in hotels and is currently the general manager of a luxury resort and had to work so hard to get there. Anything she has, she has earned. We had no generational wealth. My mum built it on her own. I had lived in 4 countries by the time I was 18 and she put me through university in Canada. My dad was the one who moved with her. He got jobs where he could and when he couldn't he was a stay-at-home parent. I'm sure it drove him crazy sometimes and they've had their rough patches, but he has always been my mum's #1 support, even when they're living in the middle of nowhere, basically with nothing to do. They've been great role models."