Daniel Lawson says he deserves a break from tidying up
…and doing the school run and making meals for his kids and, you know, parenting.
Oh and he wants us to pay for it.
The stay-at-home dad from Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire has pissed off parents everywhere by creating a crowdfunder for a night out. He claims he needs a break from his day ‘job’ – AKA, looking after his kids.
The online fundraiser was set up to pay for for a boozy Halloween weekend away. Daniel listed tidying up, preparing meals and doing the school run as some of the daily chores that he deserved a break from.
He hoped to raise £150 so he could go party in nearby Hull with his mates.
The crowdfunding page, which has since been removed after a huge backlash read as follows:
“As you may know Halloween is coming up. It’s my favourite time of year. Unfortunately my family have come into money issues due to unforeseen circumstances.
“I’m Daniel and I’m a full time dad of two beautiful girls. I don’t get out often and as a result all I see is the walls of my house. I look after my girls, tidy the house and cook for my family at the end of the day.
“With Halloween approaching I would love to take a bit of time for myself and go visit some friends, but we cannot afford the funds.”
He doesn't get out much and says he needs a break from his daily routine.
Posted by Hull Live on Wednesday, October 13, 2021
The reaction was mixed at best — with many suggesting that the struggles he describes are experienced by anyone with kids.
“He makes it sound as if we should applaud that he does chores and looks after the kids.”
“It’s called parenting, and women do it all the time. What does he want, a medal?”
“Try being a single parent who works, keeps a house, cares for her kids and takes them to their activities, yes it’s exhausting but that’s life.”
“Let’s get together and also get him a medal for sweeping the floors and dressing his kids while his wife works full time.”
Others weren’t impressed that he wasn’t trying to arrange a night out with his wife, who works full time as a carer, but instead time with ‘the lads’.
His wife, he said, planned to book some time off work to look after the kids so he could party with his friends.
Hmm.
The comments, again, were unforgiving:
“He needs to take his wife out, sounds like she needs the break and also pay for it himself.”
“What would be nice, would be for him to want a night out with his wife.”
It wasn’t all bad press though, as some parents empathised with the need to get away from it all from time to time:
“I’m a stay at home mom and I support this.”
“He should be 100% allowed to have that. He’s a human. Not a robot.”
“He should be allowed to take care of his emotional needs. Kids are exhausting.”
‘He knows being at home is hard. He would fully support me taking time to take care of ME.’
What do we think? If he was a full-time stay-at-home mother would be we balking a request for some downtime? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
