When his wife was hospitalized for liver failure recently, Australian dad Brad Kearns took over as dad and mom aka DadMum – and his adventures in parenting have caused a bit of a social media stir.
Kearns looked after the couple’s two-month-old son Knox and the six-week-old baby, Finn – and based on his Facebook post in late May, it sounded like things were a mess.
“I’m just a dad trying to be a mum for a while. The struggles are real,” Kearns writes on his Facebook on May 29. The struggles are real with fevers and vomit – and “one very missed Mummy.”
He made the 2-year-old instant noodles for dinner, got covered in stickers, and woke up every few hours with the baby. Dad’s description made it sounded like a disaster area. As a result, people on his Facebook page are giving dad props for his efforts.
“I think you’re doing way better than you realize! Parenting isn’t for the faint of heart (or stomach!),” Hannah Hamilton, a commenter on one of his posts, says.
Dad posted a rant on Facebook about his first 16 hours being a ‘dadmum’ as he calls it and how he admires his wife and women for doing this day in and day out.
But his seemingly sweet post about his wife aggravated some followers because they did not approve of Kearns calling it a mom’s job, so dad backpedaled in another rant.
“The fact that I’m a man means nothing, the fact that my wife chose to sacrifice time from her very good job and take leave means nothing. Because no matter how much the world changes, it’s still quite traditional for one parent to stay home while the other parent works,” Kearns writes.
There’s always been the stereotype that child care, cleaning house and cooking is a woman’s job – and in some families, women choose to take on this role.
But not all of them. And people want to make this known.
“No he is not being “a mum for the day” he is being a dad. That’s what you do when you have kids, you care for them, work to provide for them and you step in to back your partner up in whatever way they need. It’s the way it’s been done for Millenia,” commenter Alia says.
Though, historically, it was what women did, that’s not always the case anymore, especially if both parents are in the work force.
I think people are right to say that it’s not a mom’s job to take care of children, or even a dad’s job.
It’s a parent’s job.
I admire his ‘dadmum’ status, because dealing with a wife in the hospital can’t be easy. He is doing something he’s not used to, and he’s doing a good job of taking care of his kids.
But dads do this. Mine did, and I’m sure many other dads have too when circumstances arise that they need to be ‘Mr. Mom.’
Though his rants are humorous, he’s not doing something out of the ordinary.
A dad taking care of his own children? Wow. There are even groups out there who refuse to say they’re babysitting.
It’s time that we throw the Mr. Mom or DadMum label out the window because being a mom just means you love your children to pieces and do everything in your power to make sure they turn out right.
And dads do that too.
Is he just being funny? Is it stereotypical? Let us know in the comments!
