Parenting is meant to be a partnership. But when a father was caught doing the bare minimum (if you can even call it that), his wife took things into her own hands.
She’s now asking if she took it too far and was in the wrong for essentially “kidnapping” her infant while her lazy husband was meant to be in charge.
Here’s the story:
In one corner, we’ve got a new mum. She’s 29. She recently went back to work after mat leave and she’s very hesitant to leave her little one with her husband.
In the other corner, we’ve got the lazy husband. He’s 35. The couple can’t afford childcare and hubby doesn’t have a job so it makes sense that he takes the reins at home.
The wife explains that her husband isn’t the greatest husband in the world.
He receives benefits. It’s also important to know that he’s extremely lazy. He doesn’t cook, clean, or help out in any way. I was nervous about leaving her home with her father, but I had no choice.” the woman wrote on Reddit’s AITA subforum.
At first, everything seemed to be working perfectly. the wife would go to work and return home to a happy bubba.
When I came back from work, she was clean and sleeping. The next few times I came home, he was either playing with her, feeding her, or out for a walk with her. I was happy,” she wrote.
Neighbour exposes neglectful dad
However, the mum had a chat with her neighbour who informed her that things weren’t quite as calm during the day. The neighbour informed her that as soon as she leaves, the baby cries and cries for hours.
My neighbour said that she knocked on our door, and he finally answered it. He was sleeping. I concluded that he sleeps all day and right. Before I come home, he pretends to care for her.”
The wife didn’t want to assume but she did want to know if this was actually the case. She took the day off work without telling her husband. 30 minutes after leaving the house, she came home.
Sure enough, he was knocked out, sleeping with his stupid noise-canceling headphones on. I went to my daughter’s room, scooped her up, and took her to my friend’s house.”
Two hours later, she called her husband and said she was coming home. Her husband frantically searched the house for their infant and nearly called the police. The wife then explained that she took the child while he was asleep to teach him a lesson.
Plan backfired
While the wife assumed the husband would admit he was in the wrong and hopefully step up, the opposite happened. The husband went crying to his own mother and turned the extended family against his wife.
Feeling like maybe she took it too far, the wife asked the Reddit community if she was in the wrong. And it was a resounding NO.
FYI, this isn’t just a leave your husband because he sucks. You need to leave him before you lose your child. Neglect is abuse. Your neighbour was nice and called you instead of CPS. But if you stay with your husband they can take your child from you as well,” one commentor wrote.
She is 4 months old, this is child abuse. Please leave him and get the two of you somewhere safe,” another added.
The wife then shared an update with everyone, explaining that she did leave her husband, that he hadn’t asked to see his infant daughter and that she took her daughter to the doctor who confirmed signs of neglect in the infant. The wife is considering pressing charges.
We would do the same thing TBH. How about you?
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