No matter how healthy your family dynamics may be, tensions and quarrels between you and your loved ones are inevitable. Take chores, for example, a delicate subject in many households. Some people often wind up doing the bulk of the housework — from cooking to cleaning to looking after the kids — while others glide through life without having to lift a finger. Even if their slack can be justified by the amount of time they spend working, it’s still exhausting.
One thing, however, that makes matters even more complicated is when they constantly complain about the quality of the chores. This is precisely what happened to one Redditor who recently shared her confession on the AITA community. As the 16-year-old teen detailed, she was feeling sick and tired of how her dad acts around the house, especially how he speaks to her mom and siblings when he returns from work.
“My dad just gets home at the end of the day and literally complains about everything, like how the carpet isn’t clean or how the food is cold,” the teen wrote. In an attempt to show how his actions look from the outside, she devised an elaborate plan involving a suit, black tape, and some good acting skills. Scroll down to read the story in full, as well as the reactions that followed, and be sure to weigh in on the discussion in the comments!
Recently, this teen shared how she felt annoyed with her dad’s complaints about the state of the house whenever he returns from work
Image credits: cottonbro (not the actual photo)
So she decided to make an impression of his rude behaviors to make a point
Image credits: cottonbro (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Malachi Cowie (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Throwaway61565
The story caused quite a stir in the AITA community, where the vast majority of readers overwhelmingly sided with the teen and applauded her efforts. As the commenters stated, even when her dad wasn’t a big fan of her stunt, the daughter brought his negative patterns and unhealthy behaviors to light and did him and the rest of the family a favor.
However, these kinds of situations are more common than you’d think. According to Pew Research Center, more than 11 million parents (18%) considered themselves stay-at-home moms or dads in 2016. Traditionally, their role and responsibilities include child and family care and housework, like cooking meals, cleaning, laundry, house maintenance, and grocery shopping. While this might make sense since they are the ones who spend most of their time at home, many struggle to keep up.
It seems that the idea that being a stay-at-home parent is a full-time job is becoming a thing of the past. A survey commissioned by Welch’s found that mothers work an average of 14 hours a day or a 98-hour workweek — the equivalent of 2.5 full-time jobs caring for their children. The survey looked at 2,000 US moms with children aged 5 to 12 and revealed that, on average, they started their duties at 6:23 a.m. and ended the day at 8:31 p.m., with only 1.7 hours of free time in between.
Of course, every family is different. But the key to maintaining healthy family dynamics when one parent is a stay-at-home mom and another goes off to work is expectation management and empathy. Racine Henry, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Staten Island, New York, told Fatherly that when couples with similar issues come to see her, “it’s normally because dad feels like mom is not doing enough, and he should be able to come home and relax and not be an engaged parent, or mom doesn’t want to stay home anymore because it’s not as rewarding or satisfying as she presumed.”
To solve these issues, Henry suggested coming to some agreements about roles and expectations. “It could be deciding how can you pitch in and she gets a break, or getting a babysitter and going out separately or together. You need to decide together what’s necessary for the needs of everyone in the family and how you can both contribute to making that a reality.”
Bored Panda would love to hear your thoughts on this matter down below. Do you justify the daughter’s actions to hold up the mirror to her dad’s behaviors? Or did she go a tad too far and there could be better solutions to finding a way out of this situation? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Readers overwhelmingly sided with the daughter in this story, here’s what they had to say
The post "Am I The Jerk For Literally Showing My Dad How He Behaves Every Day When He Gets Home From Work?" first appeared on Bored Panda.
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