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How much do your baby daddy's do?

17 replies

louisebrownx · 09/09/2018 20:34

This is just a general enquiry, I'm just wondering how much your babies daddies do for you and your kids?

I know you get some dads that are brilliant and others that have the old fashion approach and don't really get involved much.

My partner is really good with our baby however I get annoyed sometimes because I feel I'm having to do everything on my own and that he doesn't have as much responsibility as I do.

Why is it that they can just walk out the door whenever they fancy but I always need to arrange childcare for that to happen?

I don't often walk out the door lol, just a generalisation of how it is.

Sometimes it causes problems between my partner and I because I expect more from him?

Do your partners help with housework? I feel like I'm constantly doing the housework and my partner doesn't often help with that side of things. Just wondering if this is men in general or should he be helping me out more?

Thanks guys.

OP posts:
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sexnotgender · 09/09/2018 20:36

He’s an adult I assume? In which case he’s not helping, it’s not your job to do the housework.

arbrighton · 09/09/2018 20:39

he walks out whenever he fancies and doesn't do much housework as you allow this to happen....

Not really a partnership is it

CocoDeMoll · 09/09/2018 20:41

It constantly causes arguements in most peoples relationships I think. I need to get to the point where I’m clearly not coping and then he pulls his finger out and will take the older one out or do some washing up. He doesn’t do enough but plenty of dads do.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Pissedoffdotcom · 09/09/2018 20:44

Me & dp split everything. In fact dp is off work currently & he actually does more hands on childcare stuff than i do atm! Housework wise i do most of the cooking because i love cooking for dp & dd. Dp will wash up when i cook, if he cooks i wash up. I do all the washing purely because i'm finicky about what washes with what, but dp will peg it out & fetch it in again. It really is a partnership. Even cleaning is split.

With regards to going out, we tend to take turns. We communicate in advance about who wants to go out when - i do martial arts training once a week & dp stays with the kids or a friend minds them if he's working. Dp goes out with a mate, i have the kids. Its rare we need a sitter because both of us are out separately.

I get told i'm lucky with what dp does but he made the decision to move in with me & dd, and our decision to have ds was a joint one. It's only right he does his share

StitchingMoss · 09/09/2018 20:46

Split everything - he has always pulled his weight around the house. I would never have married him if he hadn’t.

Move2WY · 09/09/2018 20:46

My husband, father to my children, does his fair share. He also does his fair share of the housework.

What do you mean by walking out the house? Is this when he goes out for the noght or something? When you have nights out doesn’t he stay in and look after his children?

You need to establish some boundaries now and tell him what you expect from him.

I despise the term baby daddy, and your use of it makes me think you are very young. If you were older you’d probably tolerate this much less.

SoyDora · 09/09/2018 20:48

DH works full time and I’m a SAHM. When he’s out of the house I do the childcare (obviously) and day to day chores such as stacking the dishwasher, cleaning up after meals, putting a load of laundry in, running the hoover round etc. When he’s at home all childcare is split probably around 60:40 (him doing more as he wants to spend time with them and I want a break from them!), he does the vast majority of the cooking, other chores split (I do all the household admin etc, he irons his own work shirts for example).
We always run plans by each other so we can make sure the other is at home to look after the children. If we both have plans at the same time my mum babysits (which I arrange) as she lives round the corner and his family live abroad.
Very rarely (if ever) argue about any of the household arrangements.

Creatureofthenight · 09/09/2018 20:49

I don’t have a ‘baby daddy’, I have a husband and partner. If he’s going out, he checks with me first and vice versa. He does plenty with the baby and plenty round the house - I wouldn’t have married or had a child with him otherwise.

ASAS · 09/09/2018 20:49

Half, with both appreciating what the other one does. For example, tonight DH has put DS to bed after him getting back up all 3 times. He then brought me a wee wine to have with Bodyguard. This is his was of appreciating that tomorrow I'm at the helm of school run, homework and dinner.

Frankly I blame MN for nurturing the angry feminist in me.

bourbonbiccy · 09/09/2018 20:54

I don't think you can generalise on either men or women, it is the individual . My hubby does an amount I am happy with, everyone's situation is different so there is no set rule on what a partner "should do" other than do enough that their partner is happy and doesn't feel resentful or bitter.
My hubby and I sat down when I was pregnant and had the conversation of how the dynamic would work to ensure we would both be happy.
I think talking is the most important thing, if he needs to do more then just talk to him or have you mentioned it and he has refused.
Has he always been the type to let you organise everything and not do any housework or is it just now you have the kids?

GreenMeerkat · 09/09/2018 20:57

He works full time and I work part time so naturally I do more of the childcare as I'm home more. But when he is home the childcare and housework is split pretty much 50/50. In fact, when he gets home from work he petty much takes over with the kids and puts them in the bath and gets them ready for bed most evenings.

Don't enable him to do the bare minimum.

stripeswitheverything · 09/09/2018 20:58

No, no, no, no. Please don't use the 'helping' word.

It is NOT helping. It is doing their fair share of parenting their own child.

lennyisnuts · 09/09/2018 21:06

I'm 6 months pregnant but I know that DP is going to be hands on. I've been sick since day one and he's been doing the meals, cleaning, washing clothes when I've had bad days. He even brings me breakfast in bed!
I feel very lucky to have him!

Mummaluelae · 18/09/2018 15:24

Every one is different. I often dislike posts like this. It depends what parents are doing ect. Im new to being a sahm to 2dc. So he works, leaves at 7am and returns anytime between 4.30 and 7pm. His work is hard. Me on the other hand, clean, cook, washing clothes, washing dishes, nappy changes, feeds, ect. However he does take the bins out, often hoovers nd cooks sometines too. Its what works for the family really.

SilverbytheSea · 18/09/2018 15:31

During the week I do most of the childcare/house stuff as I’m not working at the moment. But in the evenings he does bedtimes, baths and any pre-midnight wakings. At weekends and days off we are 50/50.

Sethis · 18/09/2018 17:53

Interesting exercise:

Sit down together with a blank sheet of A4 paper in front of both of you.

Draw two lines the length of the page, landscape, dividing the page into long thirds.

Each line is your typical average weekday. Draw 14 little marks down the page and label them 8am to 10pm.

Mark off on each line what each of you do - to make this interesting, try to fill out each other's lines. He tries to fill out your line, you try to fill out his line. Ask each other if you don't know. E.g. don't just fill out 8 hours as "Work" or "Looking after the kids" for either of you, instead ask what they generally do at what time at work, if anything. What does "Looking after the kids" actually mean? Get detailed!

Don't just include "jobs" here either. Include lunch breaks, time spent watching TV, time spent travelling etc etc.

By the end of all this, both timelines should be pretty full of writing.

Now, this is the important bit:

Does either timeline have manifestly, obviously, hugely disproportionate zones of stuff that isn't actually "productive"?

If so, do either of you see this as a problem?

Secondly, look at weekends, and think about what happens there in the same way. Maybe you don't need to write it down, because I guess you might do more stuff together then.

My point is that if one of you works, and the other one doesn't, it can be very easy to see the other as having it easy. For example, if I look after the kids all day, and my partner comes home, and falls over on the sofa instead of cooking dinner, then it's easy to think "Oh, why am I always doing this, it's so unfair" but it could easily be that I've had quite a lot of spare time during the day e.g. during the kids naps, when I'm not having to directly supervise them at soft play, when we go round to someone's house for a chat and some tea. By comparison my partner has been in meetings for four hours, teaching for two hours, and preparing presentations for an hour, with a 30 minute lunch break and a 45 minute drive at each end, so it's hard to begrudge them the chance to fall over at the end of all that.

None of which is to say that anyone is automatically entitled to anything - if either person isn't pulling their weight, that can easily be a problem. My point is that it's easy to perceive someone as slacking, if you don't actually have a sit down chat, in detail, as to what it is that they do every day. The partner who works may also find a new appreciation for the difficulty of looking after the kids once one of you makes a 20 point list about what that actually entails.

Hopefully it'd at least give you the chance to walk in each other's shoes, and serve as a good way to springboard into a discussion about how much time anyone should be spending doing what.

Good luck!

Whiskeyjar · 20/09/2018 23:15

Total split with us. I love cooking so he cleans the kitchen afterwards. I bath one child whilst he sorts the other. I clean the upstairs rooms and he will do the downstairs etc

Split all the nappies, washing bottles, getting up during the night and make sure we both get a lie in at the weekend each

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