Changing a diaper is a messy job, but somebody has to do it. This stinky chore more often than not becomes a hot-button issue for many new parents who share the responsibility. But what would you do if your partner flat-out refused to change your child?
This is precisely the predicament that Reddit user asiam46433 found herself in after she’d given birth to her son. The whole situation has left her wondering if she was wrong for forcing her germophobic husband to change their baby’s diaper.
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Reddit user asiam46433 says that her husband refuses to help with one crucial childrearing chore.
“He does everything almost except changing diapers ,” she explains. “He’s a hardcore germaphobe so I handle the dirty part of our son’s care.”
While her husband claims to be too repulsed to change a diaper, he is apparently able to watch his wife do it for him.
He also happens to be a bit of a backseat driver when it comes to changing their son.
According to asiam46433, her husband isn’t a fan of the faces she makes.
“So my husband’s been pestering me about the faces I make when changing our son’s diapers,” she goes on to say.
“Telling me to smile all the time.”
“I told him to leave me alone, it’s easy for him to say when he’s not the one dealing with the smell and… gahd!!!”
It got to the point where every single time that their son needed to be changed, her husband would show up out of nowhere and try to catch her off guard.
He claims that the faces she makes have an impact on their son’s emotional state of mind.
“He’d motion with his hand and be like smiiiiiiiile,” she said. “I told him to leave me alone, he knows how difficult this is for me but does nothing to help.”
“Instead just mocks me and keeps pestering me.”
Things got so bad that asiam46433 had to give her husband an ultimatum.
Either he quit with the commentary or she would make him solely responsible for changing their son’s diaper.
Unfortunately, her husband didn’t know when to leave “well enough” alone.
“He was in the kitchen already eating dinner without me and not waiting while I was getting ready to change my son’s diaper,” asiam46433 explained.
“He came into the room with his mouth full of food and once again commented on how my face looked eeminded[sic] me to smile and “show love” and stop causing harm to our son’s emotional health.”
It was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
As asia46433 said in her own words, “I snapped!!!!”
She continued by explaining that “I walked up to him and told him that he ran out of chance[sic] to stop his annoying behavior and he should start handling diaper change from now on and we’ll see how big his smile will be.”
Her husband’s jovial demeanor immediately turned sour.
He began accusing his wife of going back on her word and complained about how she was trying to make him take on all the responsibility in their relationship.
Only his cries fell on deaf ears.
“I handed him the stuff and asked him to enjoy while I kept standing to watch how he do it,” asiam46433 proudly proclaimed.
To add insult to injury, after he was done asiam46433 informed her husband that he’d lost the smiling contest due to the sour faces he made.
“It took him forever and as I expected he made all types of disgusted, grossed out[sic] faces and for a minute I thought he was going to throw up.”
Her husband is still ticked off and has accused his wife of not taking his germophobia seriously.
He has also said that he wants to seriously consider limiting the number of children that he and his wife have in the future.
All because of a stinky diaper.
Users agreed: she was in the right completely, and her husband needed some help.
“Therapy needs to happen here. It’s one thing to be a germaphobe, but it’s another thing entirely to refuse care to your child.” Reddit user lelaws said.
“What, she can never leave the baby with him in case a diaper change is required?”
“She goes out and the baby poops so he…what? Lets the baby sit in poop until she gets home? It’s not rational. He has to deal with it.”
Now, we want to hear from you.
What do you think about this wife’s dilemma? Who do you think was in the right?
Let us know down below in the comment section! We would love to hear from you.
