As a man, existing anywhere in public alone with my daughter got me all types of gatekeeping questions and comments. “Giving mommy a break?”, “Must be your day to babysit…”, “Oh is it your weekend?”
I took to telling people that my partner died in childbirth to shut them up. Rude & over the top? Probably, but I shouldn’t have to defend being a parent.
That’s interesting. I think that seems like a good example where the roles would be reversed. I think people really do rely on stereotypes about parenting to assume dads play a secondary or otherwise nonexistent parental role, when that definitely isn’t always the case. Thank you for sharing your experience.
As a man, existing anywhere in public alone with my daughter got me all types of gatekeeping questions and comments. “Giving mommy a break?”, “Must be your day to babysit…”, “Oh is it your weekend?”
I took to telling people that my partner died in childbirth to shut them up. Rude & over the top? Probably, but I shouldn’t have to defend being a parent.
That’s interesting. I think that seems like a good example where the roles would be reversed. I think people really do rely on stereotypes about parenting to assume dads play a secondary or otherwise nonexistent parental role, when that definitely isn’t always the case. Thank you for sharing your experience.