One of my co-workers has lived with his girlfriend for several years, and they have a one-year-old son.
And I'm not even going to get into the whole, "if your live-in girlfriend starts popping out your kids, it's time to put a damn ring on it" thing.
No, the thing that gets me is this: On evenings when his girlfriend goes to her part-time job and he is home with his son, he refers to it as "babysitting", as in, "I've got to leave a little early - I'm babysitting tonight".
????
Really? Taking care of your own son is babysitting?
At first I thought he was kidding around, but no. Every time he talks about being home with the boy, he calls it babysitting. "Yeah, I had to babysit this weekend - Susie was helping her brother move."
And I just ... I ... is this normal? I mean, I kind of doubt that when his girlfriend is home with the boy, she thinks of it as "babysitting". So why does he?
Okay, ladies and gents, let's hear your opinion. Ladies, do your husbands refer to caring for your children as "babysitting"? If you're going out with your friends for the evening, do you ask your husband to babysit? And gents, how about you? Do you think of taking care of your kids as babysitting?
I'm really curious. Because I'm hoping it's just this one dude that I work with who does this, but I'm getting the feeling that maybe it's not.
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9 comments:
I refer to it as "kid duty". As in, "I'm sorry I can't make it that night, hubby is working and I'll have kid duty." or some times I'll say, "I'm the only one available to watch the kids." I don't remember what I'd say when they were that little though.
It bothers me a little because I'd get the impression that he figures everything pertaining to the child is HER bailiwick, and he's helping her out, which is a bit neanderthal of him.
On the other hand, it's one word that does the duty of five, "taking care of the baby", and if that's the way it's being used, it's ok.
But there's no way to know which.
yep-it bothers me if he means it as if he has to watch HER kid (when, hello, the kid is HIS too). I also find it annoying when men announce "WE'RE pregnant". I guess I'm easily annoyed!
No, my husband calls it "parenting." I would hear "babysitting" and cringe...
- Bridgett
But "parenting" is what you do all the time, even when your other half is home, so it doesn't really convey the particulars of the situation.
I'm just trying to picture a *mother* leaving work and saying, "Well, I've got to go home and babysit."
Oh! And no shit, when this dude left work last night, he said, "I'm off to do Daddy Daycare!" Yuck.
And yeah, I mean, she didn't knock HERSELF up. It's HIS kid too. And he acts like he's doing her a FAVOR or something by watching the kid. THAT'S what bugs me.
Oh! And oh yeah, the whole "We're pregnant" thing. EXCUSE ME? *You* are not pregnant. SHE is. Unless and until YOU go through nine months of bullshit culminating in a scene right out of "Alien", YOU are not pregnant. Dipshit.
I think it's one of those stigmas in our society, where women parenting is seen as natural but men parenting is seen as something special, even as a job. It might not have meant anything, like the way someone says, "I've got the kid(s) tonight." Never know...
Yeah, Roger, I could be making a mountain out of a molehill here. Bitching about the small stuff is kind of my specialty ...
p.s. Thanks for stopping by.
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