Aughh! Fathers do not "babysit" their own children!

[LaraMN]

They "watch" or "take care of" them.

I hate that kind of expression. No one ever asks me if I'm "babysitting" my kids, when my husband isn't here, so why would it be any different when I'm gone and he's at home with them?

:banghead:

[redqueen]

1. Yeah, I think the answer to that question is pretty easy.

Cause he's a man.

We've still got a looooooooooooooong way to go.

[LaraMN]

4. We sure do.

My husband wouldn't say he was babysitting the kids, at least, but other people have said this to me (I heard it last night). I always correct them!

[soleft]

2. Thank you!!!!

Drives me nuts when I hear that.

[LaraMN]

5. I know! It's obviously a pretty ingrained idea.

:eyes:

[seemunkee]

3. It always confused people when I would correct them

Them "So you're babysitting today?"
Me "No, its called parenting."
Them "??"

[redqueen]

7. hah... 'parenting'! i like that.

i'm stealing it :)

[LaraMN]

9. *snort!*

There is little hope for some people. It's not as though it's a radical sentiment to want to be referred to equally in that context. It undermines both parents to suggest otherwise.
:eyes:

[skygazer]

6. One of my biggest pet peeves

One of my business associates remarked a while ago that he had to babysit his daughter - I said, "Oh, so you're getting paid?"

I agree - :banghead:

[LaraMN]

10. Bwahaha!

Good job!
:thumbsup:

[BarenakedLady]

8. I hate that too

Drives me batty. :grr:

[LaraMN]

11. It happens alot, I see.

Based on people's responses, anyway. That's unfortunate.

[billyskank]

12. Silly Lara

It's called babsitting because it isn't his job. He is the provider. His job is to go out and kill wildebeest and then sit around a camp fire with his buddies getting high. ;)

[LaraMN]

13. Hah!

HAHHHH!

My job is to sit around and be cute.
I can't be troubled with child-rearing, in the EVENINGS! That is when I conduct my tri-daily skincare regimen.

[radwriter0555]

27. Hah, I met one of your country-mates on easyjet last week who had just changed his first nappie

about 3 weeks ago... It was the first time he'd ever been left alone with his son. The child is 18 months old. He was properly disgusted of course while being VERY proud of surviving his ordeal.

This is the same fella who wants the female parent of the child to now leave England and go back to the USA to leave the child with him to raise because he can provide better for the child, because he's very wealthy.

He doesn't seem to realize that parenting takes more than hiring a nanny.

Shame about that guy. He was gorgeous and rich, but clueless about women, children and life.

[billyskank]

32. He's not my mate

I don't think I've ever met him. :shrug:

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

14. I heard that once from a friend of mine.

I wanted to ask him "so he's not really your son?" (Because watching your own children is not "babysitting": it's parenting, right?)
I didn't say it, though.

But I completely agree with you, and it bugs me when people say they're "babysitting" their own children. (And I don't even have kids)

[LaraMN]

16. Shame on him!

I've never heard a woman refer to "babysitting" her own children.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

18. Me either.

But I just heard it last night as well. Some of us were staying late at work to play some games
and one of my co-workers said the same thing "I've gotta go home and babysit the kids."

It's very subtle, but I believe it it is an insult.

[mopinko]

15. my pet peeve. i have a friend who is a great dad

but when he says this, i want to strangle him. he got into the habit in part by being a stand-in dad to his nephew. now he has a baby, and that is what he says. i keep telling him not to sit on it, but he insists.

[LaraMN]

17. I think that if they're going to call it "babysitting,"

they should be prepared to leave, when their spouse returns home!

[SOteric]

19. Okay, - while you're on this rant, - male SOs

don't "help" with the housework. It's just as much their responsibility as it is a woman's. I don't know why in this day and age, anyone would think that housework was entirely a woman's job and her fella was just giving her a little assist to be a good sport.

[LaraMN]

20. That's a very good point.

I think I'm guilty of using that type of phrasing, too. I'm going to remember your sentiments, though, because you're right!

[jobycom]

23. Well, to be fair...

If women could get away with assuming it was the man's job, wouldn't they? :)

I know they would, because my wife assumed just that! She made more money than me, and I cooked better than her, so it was best that way.

[jobycom]

21. No damn kidding. I was the primary caretaker of my oldest, and I still got that

all the time.

The other thing that drove me crazy was when mothers would assume I needed help. At a playground, they would pull my kid off the monkey bars because I was just a father and couldn't decide when she was playing too dangerously (and I doubt they would have pulled a little boy off the monkeybars, but that's a different complaint)! They watched her in shopping carts, and frowned if they thought I had wandered too far away. On and on. Drove me crazy.

Then they'd remark "It's nice to see a father spending time with his kid." I'd follow that up as politely as I could with "Yeah, it'd be even nicer if my wife would spend some time with her so I could get a break now and then." They looked at me funny when I said such things.

So, yes, :banghead:

[LaraMN]

24. That's what really sucks; the comment denigrates the roles of BOTH parents.

Your experiences are very interesting, although not entirely surprising. I guess the phenomenon of gender role stereotyping is alive and well.

[miss_american_pie]

22. Preach it, sister

:thumbsup:

[eyesroll]

25. Can I add, for the record, that Dad is perfectly capable of consenting to his daughter's food order?

J, Kiddo and I are out. Kiddo is J's daughter. I am the stepmother-equivalent. The waitress comes by and asks what Kiddo wants. She chimes "macaroni!" or "pancakes!" or whatever. Invariably, the waitress turns to me and asks, "is that OK?"

Now, that's not a huge problem...someone's gotta consent to the four-year-old's order...but sometimes, J orders for a distracted kiddo and then the waitress turns to me and asks if it's OK. WTF? I'm not even her mom, but even so...

We get this in restaurants all the time. Even once at a street fair -- J asked kiddo if she'd like a lollipop that some vendor was handing out. The vendor asked me if it was OK.
ne.

[av8rdave]

26. Good point...as a former single dad, I never "babysat" them

[CC]

28. My boss has to leave early

some weekdays to get home so his wife can head to work. He calls it Daddy duty when people ask if he is going to go babysit his daughter. Now we all just tell people he is off to Daddy duty because Mommy duty time is up. Since it is a community college we figure there will be a generation of local kids that will resent babysitting for their kids and will call it Daddy (or Mommy) duty since it is already working on the older students with kids.

[Bassic]

29. I agree with you.

I was asked once if I was babysitting. I was not asked again, because I told the person that I can't babysit my own son.

[texas1928]

30. Why watch them...

I can get in a few rounds of golf. It is called duct tape. They are quiet and well mannered and I have no worries that they are getting into anything.




























:P
I don't have kids. But when I do...


Stock in 3M duct tape.

[Burma Jones]

31. I've never sat on a baby, do I look like a Fucking Penguin?

I said "babysit" when referring to my eldest once and once only. I was, gently, corrected by my Grandmother and have not made the same mistake since.......

[LostinVA]

33. I don't have kids, and it drives ME crazy

My BIL used to do that when my niece and nephew were little, until my mother asked him, "Do you consider loving and protecting your children nothing more than a chore or a job? Is that what you think being a father is?" He never said it again.