'Dads Don't Babysit' Shirt Sends An Important Message About Parenting
The message had to be put on a t-shirt because people won’t stop saying it
Oh! You’re out without baby! Who’s babysitting? Your husband?
Guaranteed every mom with a partner has heard this at least once. It’s truly unbelievable. Babysitters are people you pay to watch your kids. Fathers are fathers. They cannot babysit. No one would EVER ask a woman if she was babysitting her own children, because that sounds absolutely ridiculous. We need to get to the point where it sounds just as ridiculous to say that to a father. Because it is.
Enter this t-shirt:
“Help the National At-Home Dad Network spread the message that a dad cannot babysit his own kids. If he’s caring for them, it’s called ‘parenting.'” Thank you, National At-Home Dad Network, you are absolutely right.
“We love the reaction that these shirts, and more importantly their message, is getting,”Chris Routly, President of the National At-Home Dad Network tells Scary Mommy. “Words matter, and we feel strongly that referring to fathers caring for their own child(ren) as a ‘babysitting’ only reinforces the idea that dads are secondary parents, and that caregiving is primarily the job of moms.”
According to stats obtained by the NAHDN, there are at least 1.4 million dads who are the daily, primary caregivers of their kids. “This large and increasing number of fathers as primary caregivers shows that parenting services are needed for both dads and moms,” writes the NAHDN on their site.
The t-shirts come in men, women, child and toddler sizes and there are also baby onesies available for purchase at Teespring. They are only available for a limited time, so snap to it.
All proceeds from the shirts go towards the NAHDN Scholarship Fund, which helps cover the cost for lower-income dads to attend the Annual At-Home Dads Convention. Win, win. You get a great looking shirt with an awesome message and support a good cause, too.
Dads aren’t babysitters! It’s time we put an end to that dumb stereotype for good.
It’s called parenting.
