It’s amazing how quickly something can take off on Twitter and draw a range of emotions from the masses. One image can quickly prompt people to comment with their reactions of disgust or confusion.
That’s exactly what happened when an image of “Daddy’s Sticker Chart” began circulating on Twitter, but the real story behind this image is actually really funny.
Many parents are familiar with the sticker chart.
They are used by parents and teachers across the country to help reinforce good behavior. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you’ve made a few of these charts in your day.
The concept is simple: A child gets a sticker every time they complete a chore or daily task.
If they get a certain amount of stickers, they get a small reward like a toy or a special treat.
It doesn’t seem like much, but trust me when I say these charts work.
If a sticker or reward is involved, kids suddenly become the little saints we never knew they could be.
Writer and “Harper’s Bazaar” political editor, Jennifer Wright, discovered a NSFW version of this chart meant for dads.
She shared the image, which included rewards like oral sex for cleaning up kids’ vomit, on her Twitter account.
Quickly, people mocked and condemned the chart.
Many believed that this chart reinforced the idea that dads aren’t active parents and need to be bribed into helping around the home.
Many thought the chart was a childish way to get dads involved.
According to this Twitter user, anyone who needs to use a chart like this isn’t ready to be a parent.
Across the board, many people on Twitter were in disbelief.
People couldn’t imagine why a modern parent would need a reward system to help their partner with basic tasks.
Some Twitter users came up with their own version.
This modified version included such rewards as, “The reward of a job well done.”
Overall, a lot of people just felt this whole thing was creepy and weird.
People didn’t know what to make of this very adult chart that featured rainbows and Disney princess stickers.
Before you start composing your own Twitter response about this chart, there’s more to it than meets the eye.
This is one of those scenarios that could only happen in the age of the internet.
Well, as it turns out, this image was always meant to be a joke.
You can see in the original image, there’s a small attribution in the bottom right corner from the blog, Baby Sideburns.
Baby Sideburns is run by author and mom Karen Alpert who frequently makes tongue-in-cheek parenting memes.
This chart image from 2013 was one of those memes. For those out of the loop when it comes to parenting blogs, they missed the joke entirely.
A quick scroll through her Instagram shows that this isn’t the first time she’s made jokes and humorous posts.
Here’s a photo she shared where she pranked her husband after he refused to unpack wrapped tampons from their suitcase. Checkmate.
Even once it was revealed that this had been an old joke that backfired, some people were still not happy.
Some Twitter users said there are still issues when it comes to evenly dividing household tasks since so many people thought the chart was real.
So there you have it, internet.
A parenting meme taken out of context caused Twitter to collectively vomit, but a quick internet search put our minds at ease.
