1 Dad Asked Whether or Not He Should Be Required to Get Up to Feed His Twin Babies, and What a Clusterf*ck
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Reddit can be a dark and scary place, especially for brand new moms and dads with genuine parenting questions. Recently, one new father took to the popular forum AITA — short for Am I the Asshole? — to determine whether or not he should be required to help his wife feed his 3-week-old twins overnight. Although the answer seems to be a pretty cut and dried "yes!" at first, he makes some pretty compelling points as to why he shouldn't have to.
"Wife and I just had twins three weeks ago," he shared. "I work while she does not. I help whenever I'm not working but have told my wife she has to cover the overnights as I need sleep for work. She thinks it's unfair however she can take two hour naps while they sleep while I can't do that at my job. We even have a nanny that was here four out of five work days this week. I'm up early on the weekends and take care of them while she sleeps in."
Although we sympathize with working dads, taking care of two newborns after giving birth just three weeks prior is a tremendous feat for new moms. After editing his original post to note that he works between 72 and 84 hours a week, he also added a few more clarifying details.
"The reason we have the nanny through the week is so she can sleep during the day," he wrote, adding that his nanny also takes on a lot of the household chores. "The nanny is here 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. As soon as I get home I take over all dad duties until I go to sleep around 10 p.m. If it sounds like I'm just laying around after work, I'm not. The nanny is our housekeeper who has taken on the nanny role also. 100 percent of the housework is taken care of by the nanny."
As you can imagine, people had various opinions on the matter. Some sided with the dad, saying he should clock as many hours of sleep as possible, while others said the new father should be required to pitch in, regardless of the late hour. Read through to get both sides of this parenting debate.