There is nothing a parent wouldn’t do for the well-being of their children. The truth is that moms and dads out there sacrifice a lot to help guide their children into becoming respected individuals with good manners. Sadly, children don’t always appreciate these efforts.
A father took to Reddit to ask fellow redditors whether he was harsh with his son after he heard him yelling at his mother for not doing his laundry.
Namely, the boy was 12 years old and expected from his mom to do the laundry and then iron his clothes. When she didn’t manage to, he got angry and started yelling at her.
The dad explained that both he and his wife do chores around the house while both of them have full-time jobs.
The following weekend, the man’s wife went to Mexico with some of her friends and he believed staying alone with the boys was the perfect time to teach his pre-teen a lesson.
Namely, the father told his son that he would be doing his own laundry while the mom was away after teaching him how to do it. On top of it, he told him that he would be responsible for his younger brother, and that included cooking food for him. The 12-year-old was also asked to do chores around the house.
After a day, he started complaining and saying it was all too much for him. It was then when the father reminded him that his mom does that every day while working full time.
However, instead of learning how to appreciate what his mother did, he decided to call his grandma and ask her to take him in for a couple of days because his father was harsh on him and made him do things around the house. The grandma then called the boy’s father and told him that his parenting methods weren’t right and that he shouldn’t have forced the boy to do his own laundry.
The father then reminded his mother, the boy’s grandma, that she used to use even more harsh methods which involved some beating too. It was then that she apologized and promised not to get involved.
So redditors took the father’s side and said he’s methods weren’t harsh at all. Instead, learning how to do his laundry, make his room, and even cook were life lessons that the son needed to learn anyway.
Others, however, said he should have let the boy be boy and enjoy his days without being burdened with household tasks.
“I think you have a deeper issue that you need to work on with your son. I also think if your older son has been exposed to misogynistic attitudes, you should make sure your younger son doesn’t pick up on it, too. They both need to learn that women are partners, not maids, and that they need to pull their weight,” one user commented.
“I do think that you should consider approaching this in a more educational manner than a punitive one, and to treat it as a genuine and earnest learning experience for your son, rather than simply a punishment,” another suggested.