Have you seen the time-lapse video of a day in the life of a stay-at-home dad with a toddler? DUDE DOESN'T EVEN TURN ON THE TV ONCE.
I have several questions (like "What is more likely to exist— this dad or a unicorn?") but before I get to them, you must watch the video below…
If the video above is truly a full day of dedicated floor time and not video trickery, I HAVE QUESTIONS. (This post is not meant to be a dig at Dads, just parents at home with their kids in general.)
Where was the part when Dad checks his email, his facebook timeline and his fantasy football stats on his iPhone?
Where was the part when Dad leaves to go to the bathroom and plays "Words With Friends" on the toilet for the next hour?
Where was the part when Dad gives up and turns on Netflix?
Where was the part when Dad turns off TV and toddler has Calliou-inspired tantrum on the floor?
Where was the part when Dad says, "If you don't stop crying about the television, I'm not going to let you use your iPad!"
Where was the part when toddler bangs into coffee table and cries for solid thirty minutes even though there is nothing visibily wrong?
Where was the part when Dad googles "how do I know if kid has concussion" on his computer?
Where was the part when Dad can't keep his eyes open for another second and passes out in a pool of his own LEGOS?
Where was the part when toddler refuses to eat lunch so Dad bribes him with cookies?
Where was the part when cookie bribery doesn't work so Dad mixes himself a cocktail?
Where was the part when Dad gives sippy cup to toddler but doesn't screw lid on right so drink spills all over the couch?
Where was the part when toddler asks for "something else" to eat but can never successfully define what "something else" is?
Where was the part when Dad turns his head for a moment and toddler starts mushing play-doh into the carpet?
Where was the part when Dad turns his head for a moment and toddler starts drawing on the walls?
Where was the part when Dad turns his head for a moment and toddler starts sticking impossible to remove stickers on the hard wood floor?
Where was the part when the day goes so comically wrong that Dad leaves child to fend for himself while he writes blog post about how day went so comically wrong?
How come Dad put everything away before Mom got home instead of leaving it out so Mom could see just how hard the day was?
Why was there a place for everything to be put away?
Is this really a day in the life or is this a day in the life of someone who knows they are on camera?
If this is really a day in the life, does Dad have desire to spend time in New York City?
If Dad has desire to come to New York City, would Dad like to play with my kids and clean my apartment for free?
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Please feel free to ask your questions below.
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This made me laugh! Love it! I could have taken pointers from that dad when I was a stay-at-home mom.
“When was the part where the day goes so comically wrong that Dad leaves child to fend for himself while he writes blog post about how day went so comically wrong?”
Heh. Guilty as charged…
Don’t we all wish we had husbands like that. But they don’t exist – anywhere. Even this guy must be pretending.
Naptime? When was dad so incredibly bored he had to go out to the playground or shops or whatever just to be able to see some other adults? Why did the toddler only get one diaper the entire time? Did i only see one sippy cup?
I read it is only a 3 hour lapse, I mean, only one feed and diaper change, and no nap..?? Surely this is a one off by the dad, no one can keep this up…
All throughout the video I was thinking, will we see the mum’s reaction when she gets home and finds this mess? And then…. He goes and tidies up! Sorry, don’t buy it!
When did dad have to vacuum entire house while holding toddler?
When did dad have to unload dishwashwer while simultaneously repeating “don’t touch” 978 times?
When did dad have to fold laundry while toddler flings said laundry all over floor?
When did dad make his attempt at showering?
this is staged.
my husband would laugh his ass off at this!
LOL
I bet plenty of moms do the same and they don’t get enough recognition. They also don’t fluff themselves by making time lapse videos of themselves being a great mom. This guy won’t be getting father of the year award from me. Great, he survives 3 hrs every day with his son alone. I bet he vegges as soon as his wife comes home or gives her the morning duty, which is probably more than 3 hrs because “he’s tired”. Also, why doesn’t that clock move on the wall? I think it reads 8:45 in the beginning and 9:00 at the end. What gives?
Clock only showed like a 2 hour lapse. STILL impressive considering the energy level he kept up.
You are so true on every account! However, the dad shot himself in the foot, as his time lapse was only over the course of an hour 🙂
Rewatch this, but watch the clock instead. Sorry, Dada, there is still plenty of the day for shit to hit the fan!
I give the Dad credit for remembering to feed and change the baby. My son is 3 and I still have to remind my husband to do these things when I’m out!
…Seriously.
Hilarious post, btw.
I think you were looking at the hands of the clock backward. It took me a few minutes of staring at it to figure it out.
Ok, thanks! It is hard to see that clock.
Props to this guy! No matter how long he actually had made the video for he dedicated time and love to his child. ANY parent who interacts and communicates with their child is awesome in my book. Lucky kid and wife to have such an amazing family unit.
we all kind of sound like angry moms lol. I actually enjoyed watching this because I love how dads play with their kids-it’s different, at least with my husband and I. I actually admire the way he plays with our and try to do the same-they have so much fun and it is really really sweet to watch. They have the most fun when I’m not watching over them telling them how to do stuff-gives me something to think about. Though I gotta say it would be nice to pick up everything when they’re done lol.
I thought this was great, but I don’t know if he’s really a ‘stay at home dad’ or just a dad who stayed home one afternoon to help mom out.
love both the video and the questions.
Ilana, you are a riot. love your questions. would’ve had many of the same. what a cute dad.
Where was the part when the dad made dinner that nobody liked?
Okay, this is cute and it’s always great to see parents play with their kids.
However, I watched the clock, and it takes one hour. Any parent can spend a lovely hour playing with their kids. It’s adding the extra 7-8 in the day where you have to actually accomplish something.
The weird thing is the clock. They say it’s an afternoon while mom is at work, but the clock begins around 7:45 AM and ends around 8:35 AM. So either the clock is completely set to the wrong time, or the claim this was an afternoon while mommy was at work, is bullshit.
Still cute.
And the “Where was the part when the day goes so comically wrong that Dad leaves child to fend for himself while he writes blog post about how day went so comically wrong?” is hilarious. And true. 🙂
Ha ha ha – was thinking that too!
I was going to say too that the clock looks like it only moves maybe 2 hours. And chances are this was his first time watching baby alone and mom was all anxious- why else would a dad record himself? THEN… He probably spent the next few hours editing the masterpiece you see here… While fireman Sam was on. ;P not trying to sound like a cynic…. But this is a one time ideal and not much more than that I bet! Lol
Ina ll seriousness, did he only do one diaper change? How is that possible? And when did the kid take a nap? Did I miss that part?
Wait. No wheels-off trips to the grocery store (or post office or bank or dry cleaners)? Loading and unloading the dishwasher? Mounds of laundry to fold? Vacuuming up spilled cheerios and goldfish crackers? And most importantly…where the hell is his coffee cup? He doesn’t walk around with one of those all day long?
The clock did show a 2 hour time frame and not to give dads over credit but my husband has stayed home with our son every Friday for a 9 hour day while I worked since we brought him home from the hospital. In that time he cleans the house does the grocery shopping and everything. This video would probably play out there day in a nut shell. He even has taken him to spend the weekend at the lake just the two of them since he was a newborn just because he is the dad and wants to. Our son is almost 3 and a total daddy’s boy. Of course I constantly hear from my husband that he does way more than most dads so he thinks he should get extra credit points for that!
It was for only 2 hours.
My day sounds a whole more like the one you asked about. My house is strewn with toys and dust bunnies.
“Why was there a place for everything to be put away?”
THAT is the question that I’m still struggling with!!!
Hey Ilana,
love your post! I’m lucky to be married to a very dedicated dad and love to watch his interactions with our son. However, the cleaning-up part at the end throws me, too. “Where is the part when he reads the note his wife wrote asking him to put all the stuff away again before she comes home, without which he wouldn’t even come up with the idea?”
I wonder: did you change the wording of your post? I read it this morning and when I showed it to my husband tonight, some parts sounded different. Do you sometimes also change the headings of your posts?
Glad to hear things are improving with baby Harlow!
Wishing you the best! Anne from Germany
Okay, Moms, especially stay at home moms like me, that was not even two hours of time in the video. When he opens the curtains it is 6:50 and when he closes them it is 8:40…
Nice try dad…there is no such thing as a day without feedings, and diaper changes, and melt downs, and drama…lol
Just saw that you know that it is video trickery – still love your questions…I have one…Where is the part where dad washes the same load of laundry for the third time because he keeps forgetting to put it in the dryer?
How did Dad clean up that mess without child not taking it all out of the basket and chest 5 MILLION times?
How did Dad do this without 6 cups of coffee in his system?
How did Dad only lay down and contemplate defeat once???
This is funny mostly because he CLEANED UP THE MESS, I don’t care if it’s 30 minutes my husband never cleans up and my daughter bless her heart just trashes it the second you do anyway!!
Seriously no coffee how does this man function!!
Is it weird that I only watched this so I could see the Dad clean up. I just wanted to see what that looked like!
How Do You Do It With Out Tv My 10 Yrs Old She Would Go Nuts And Me And My Hubby Would Too Nancy Avila And Family
What does a Dad have to do to get respect? While we cannot birth a child, dads can learn to be care takers. Perhaps I am slightly disappointed that few recognize that men can also do their part as a parent.
Having stayed home for extended periods of time to raise two children alone under the age of 3, while my wife battled an illness I applaud the job this fellow man has done.
What I saw was a fully engaged parent, who truly enjoyed every moment he had with his son. Kudos to you my friend.
1adad, nicely said. I always enjoy seeing another dad enjoying his kids. Or a mom for that matter. My kids are awake for about 4 hours after I get home from work and I spend at least 2 hours playing with them. I feed them, bath them and dress them for bed, read them books and let them follow me all night as I do things around the house. My wonderful wife makes dinner and even cleans up so i can have more time with the kids.
I don’t say this to show I am a good dad so much as someone who had kids because ibwant to enjoy them. So many dads have kids and interact with them like they are just a responsibility. It confuses me. Why have them at all? I’m the dad you see running around the store chasing my 4 yr old while my 2 yr old bounces and giggles on my shoulders. Ticks some people off but I’m ok with that.
Bottom line, I don’t care if it was staged, if he just wanted to earn points with the wife or anything else like that. The dude played with his son and obviously enjoyed it.
All that being said, there is no chance I would be able to go 2 hours without checking my phone.
you’re right. I apologize.
Ha- Love these. Totally wish I had thought of the housecleaning angle!
That would be hilarious if he used the second half of the day to edit his masterpiece. Then he spent the next day monitoring his hits on YouTube while kid watched all three Toy Story movies 🙂
I’m sure whenever there was a jump cut, it was because he was unloading a dishwasher somewhere!
Kudos to you for having such an awesome husband and father to your kids. Mike is pretty awesome too- he’s the cook and he does all of the grocery shopping (just cause he’s a control freak about it)— but he would never be able to play with Mazzy for an extended period of time without falling asleep.
Me too! I was watching the whole thing in stride and then when they got to the end, my mouth gaped open like Ryan Gosling had just walked into my bedroom.
I do re-edit sometimes. I usually post late at night and when I wake up in the morning, I read it over and might make some changes. Usually that all happens before 9am EST. I definitely did that today because I must have been half asleep when I posted— grammatical errors everywhere!
Amazing, isn’t it?
I agree with you wholeheartedly. That is why I specifically said, this post is not meant to be a dig at dads— it’s about any parent being at home with their kids.
I do almost all of the things I listed in the questions. Staying at home with your kids and giving them your undivided attention is a tough tough job that not many people can do— moms or dads. if this guy is actually doing that, he definitely deserves kudos.
When I posted it, I was half doubting the dad and half poking fun at myself because I would never be able to have such a successful uninterrupted play time with my child.
I’m very jealous of your wife that you are such an amazing involved enthusiastic father. I say that with no sarcasm whatsoever.
My husband and I are good parents who can’t imagine life without our kids, but we also don’t feel like playing with them all the time. It’s not for lack of love, we just get tired. Some parents have more energy and some kids require more energy, I think.
Thanks for being open to my opinion Anne. : )
Please understand my reaction was more about the comments then your post. I don’t think the dad was showing off as much as making his wife(mom) feel comfortable with not being at home. I thought his message at the end was rather sweet.
I guess my point was, dads might be more confident staying at home or be more involved if they were encouraged to by society. Advertisers are the most guilty of portraying the father as hopeless and unqualified.
Thanks for replying and for bringing this video to my attention.
Cheers
Right on Jack. Your mindset may just be the secret to your success. I don’t think infants and toddlers care as much about what you are doing with them as much as the crave the attention.
We are all guilty of struggling to give 100% undivided attention. I too can’t go long without checking my phone.
Keep it up.
I didn’t even notice those… so much for my non-native-speaker English ;-/
Seems like maybe Mommy was using a Nanny-Cam?! Brilliant! I hope dinner was on the table for Mom at the end of the day….