AIBU?
To hate parents 'babysitting'
StumpyScot92 · 27/07/2017 15:00
Its a pet peeve that has come up far too many times today. I see it everywhere, both online and in real life.
Someone will say 'Oh sorry, I can't go to XXX, I'm babysitting then'. When talking about their own child.
That isn't fucking babysitting! That's parenting! Babysitting as a term should be used solely for other peoples children.
Petty I know but I'm pregnant, hormonal and wanted to rant
Eolian · 27/07/2017 15:55
If it's used of one parent only, because the other parent (usually the mother) is assumed to be the default parent, YANBU at all.
I'd be less irritated by the use of the word if it were being applied equally to either parent as general shorthand for staying at home with the children while the other parent is out, even though to me the word implies looking after someone else's child whose parent (s) are out.
Notknownatthisaddress · 27/07/2017 16:18
Let's be honest OP.
It's only men who say they are 'babysitting' their own child/children.
And yes it is annoying. Like it's a chore.
I remember a thread ages ago about a man who had given his wife some 'I will look after the kids for the afternoon while you go and have fun' cards, for her birthday!
He was offering to look after his children.
As a GIFT to his wife.
Fuck.
Off.
Just.
Fuck.
Off. 
SpartacusSaiman · 27/07/2017 16:38
Both me and dh use the "i am babysitting that night".
Really doesnt bother me what dh calls his time in charge of the kids. But thays probably because he is an equal parent in every sense. I have never felt like i am the default parent. So what word is used by either of us doesnt matter.
I imagine hearing it from someone who thinks they are doing the other parent a favour is annoying.
LotisBlue · 27/07/2017 16:42
It's a term I would use if only one of us was going on a night out and the other was staying home with the kids.
I don't see the problem unless, as in the cases above, it is being used because looking after the children is seen as the job of just one of the parents (the mum).
BossyBitch · 27/07/2017 18:02
It drives me batshit insane!
I don't have children of my own, but I am one of the only woman managers at my place of work. The men I work with use it all.the.fucking.time. Those would be the same men who go on 2-week business trips while their wives are at home wit their 3-week-old babies and who are adored for being 'such devoted fathers' for taking every other Friday off to spend some time with the kids. The same men who worry that female employees might not be sufficiently dedicated to the job on account that some of us have kids at some stage.
I've resorted to saying 'well, it's not babysitting if you had any fun during the production process yourself' and they regularly get pissed off when I say this.
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