Dads Are Fed Up With Baby Clothes That Make Them Look Like Morons

A new dad took to Reddit to slam clothing that mocks his parenting skills

There’s no arguing the fact that moms do the heavy lifting throughout pregnancy and labor. But once the kid arrives, it’s all hands on deck. In 2017, dads are more involved than ever, and most everyone agrees this is a good thing.

So why do we keep mocking them?

A new father – his Reddit name is newdad816 – was recently doing some shopping, and he encountered the popular “Daddy-proof” onesie, complete with markings on it to help dads get the thing on his baby without making any mistakes. Because dads are morons who can’t do anything right!

The Redditor was not pleased.

These kinds of “dads are bad at parenting” jokes in general, clear. The top comment really sums it up, as the poster laid out his Dad Skills to explain why these jokes are so tiresome and outdated.

“My daughter is only two weeks old and I’m already sick of this shit. I change diapers better than my wife, I burp her better than my wife, I put in car seats better than my wife, a change diapers better than my wife.”

(Maybe his wife proofreads better? I KID, I KID.)

In 2017, the idea that men might be good at this parenting thing should hardly be groundbreaking, but I guarantee some of you already doubt that he’s “better” at any of those things than his wife is. Stereotypes are hard to shake.

The commenter continues: “I’m attentive and loving.”

Not sure how – or why – anyone would argue that. Dads are parents too. We love one care for our kids just as much as moms.

“People see this and still say things like “well, it’s her baby” or “but she’s the mother”. Yes, it is, but she is also mine just as much as it’s hers.”

PREACH!

The solidarity displayed in the more than 500 other comments – and the fact that the picture has been upvoted over 2600 times – is further proof that the ideas represented by such stupid clothing are well past their expiration date.

But the stereotype lives on.

One commenter agrees there’s a double-standard, but accepts that there’s a reason for it.

Another commenter admits that while dad-bashing exists, there’s also a distressingly low-bar. Something moms are all too familiar with.

Obviously, novelty onesies aren’t exactly the authority on gender roles in parenting, but for involved fathers, it can get pretty discouraging to continually encounter this attitude. Especially when the jokes are so bad. But this attitude has been around for years, and they won’t be going away anytime soon.

Dads continue to be both denigrated for our supposed lack of parenting skills and celebrated when they make even the smallest effort. Nobody wins when either parent is made to feel inferior. We’re all in this together.

Raising a baby is not about defeating the other parent. (It’s about defeating the baby! I mean, it’s about survival!) And while moms may have a biological leg-up when it comes to child rearing, fathers are just as capable – and, in some cases, even more capable – of handling the basic tasks of baby care.

Parenting isn’t a competition, and men and women everywhere should be welcoming involved dads for taking an equal role in parenting when that wasn’t always the case. It’s not easy to overcome centuries of stereotyping, and the only way to get rid of clothes like this is by making the idea that “dads aren’t good parents” obsolete.