Mom stunned when stay-at-home dad asks her to 'quit' job after spending one weekend with their baby

Parenting is as demanding and exhausting as any job, but unlike most professions, there's no option to quit. It’s a lifelong commitment. u/Obvious-Mistake7801, a 36-year-old neurologist, shared her experience on Reddit, revealing that her husband wanted to quit being a stay-at-home dad after just one weekend with their newborn. She emphasized her love for her career and the hard work it took to become a doctor, noting how important her job is to her.

“From the beginning of our relationship, I was very upfront that I was unsure about having biological children,” she explained. Her husband was supportive of the same. “I wanted to wait a few more years before revisiting the topic of children. In August of last year, I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant due to a condom breaking during sex,” she wrote. She discussed it with her husband and decided to keep the baby after he proposed that he’d quit his job and look after the kid. “We decided to keep the baby and he would quit his job and stay home until our daughter was old enough to start preschool,” she explained.

She emphasized that several factors, such as her income and her newly established career, were considered before making their decision. “I was clear I had zero desire to stay home and be a housewife. I respect stay-at-home mothers, but my work is my life. This isn’t a lifestyle I want whatsoever,” she explained. She added, “I am not comfortable putting my child in daycare until she is old enough to express herself verbally.” The dad agreed to be a stay-at-home father and nine weeks after their daughter’s birth, the mom was ready to return to her job.

“This weekend, I left my husband alone with our daughter while I attended a medical conference out of state. The conference was amazing, but when I returned home, my husband began acting weird,” she mentioned. On speaking further, the man revealed that he didn’t think he was up for the challenge of being a stay-at-home dad. “He expressed how trapped, alone and overwhelmed he felt all weekend. He now wants me to extend my maternity leave and is talking about trying to get his job back. This made me freak out, and I asked, ‘Well, what will we do with our daughter now?!’ He responded by suggesting I leave my practice and work from home. I said absolutely not, and he suggested daycare,” the mom said. She was agitated at the dad going back on his word and agreement.

“I screamed, ‘If I knew you were going to back out of your promise to take care of our daughter, I would have never had your child,’” the mom shared. She confessed that her words were wrong and that she didn’t mean them, but she was baffled and unsure about what to do. u/AngusHalfPenny wrote, “You expressed boundaries and rules and he’s crossed them. Stick to your boundaries.” u/GuiltyCompany-9755 added, “Knowing he’s supposed to be a stay-at-home dad and he did absolutely no preparation to be ready for two days alone? Dude is insane.”

This article originally appeared 3 months ago.