Father of 4-year-old admits to wanting to play with child for "ten minutes each day," sparking parenting debate: 'The truth is I just don't like being around kids for very long'

This Dad is worried that he's not enjoying playtime with his 4-year-old son enough, and the internet quickly took the topic and ran with it!

Parenting is a tough topic because there are rarely answers to your questions that have a 100% success rate. Almost all parenting advice is anecdotal and specific for that particular child. And no one knows that better than parents of more than one kid, who often find out how different 2 kids from the same set of parents can be!

As a frazzled, hungry, sleep-deprived parent, you try to do the best you can on any given day. You're only human! You're trying to take care of a whirling dervish that needs constant snacks, makes 15 messes per day, refuses to keep their clothing or shoes on, needs reassurance 100% of the time, and doesn't really understand rules or general safety advice. You adore this child, and at the same time, you're very exasperated by them; you've slept like 2 hours a night for months and you simply can't fathom a day when you'll get a few moments to yourself. When you're in the midst of the terrible 2's or the "I want to help!" phases, you see no end in sight to the chore of parenting.

Every parenting experience is unique, too. Some people love their child from the moment they lay eyes on them, while others take months or even years to really connect with their offspring. Some parents find the "job" rewarding all the time, while others end up resenting their children (not to mention all the space in between, since most parents are somewhere in the middle of that spectrum).

This Dad found himself as Twitter/X's main character of the day when he wrote a long tweet about his feelings about playing with his own 4-year-old. Now, is playing with kids fun? Sometimes… but if we're being honest with ourselves, it's often pretty dull.

That's not necessarily what got Twitter so fired up — instead, it's the eyebrow-raising admission that this person only wants to play with his kid for 10 minutes a day ideally! People had plenty of feelings and memes to share about this unintentionally hot take… check it all out below and see what you think about this parenting debacle.

01

via Chelsey Hendricks on Unsplash+
02
This Dad came online with some musings about parenthood, namely how much he tolerates playing with his kid

via @jmrphy
03

via @jmrphy
04

via @jmrphy
05

via @jmrphy
06

via @jmrphy
07
This top comment had 14k likes...

via @BITP0WER

While the actual post had more than 13 million views and just 5k likes. That's quite the ratio!
08
The dad didn't agree with that commenter, but he's forgetting the nature of the internet these days

via @jmrphy

Won't his kid be online by age like, 7? He'll have access to a friend's iPad or his own computer or phone way sooner than adulthood. What if he sees Dad's most viral post at the age of 7 or 8 or 11? He'll probably feel shame about his desire to play with his parent, and might not ask him again.
Just to reiterate, Dad isn't wrong for sharing these feelings necessarily, but there's little doubt his son will see the post while he's still a child young enough to play make-believe. The son won't see this when he's old enough to have the benefit of hindsight and an adult mindset. He's going to see this when his grade school friends show it to him, and at this point, the cat's out of the bag.
Of course this Dad can appreciate his own father's writings now that he's a father himself! If he found out that his Dad didn't like playing with him when he was still a child, there's 0 doubt that it would've impacted their relationship. That's the biggest difference here, and there's no revoking the statement once it's been broadcast to the entire Twitter-sphere.
09

via @mbateman
10

via @emilykmay
11

via @JonnyMicro
12

via @JohnHolbein1
13

via @SaladBarFan
14

via @JeremiahDJohns
15

via Getty Images For Unsplash+

_{The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.}

Stay up to date by following us on Facebook!

Also From FAIL Blog

Neighbor disrespects the cat owner next door, continuing to give treats to their cat without permission, so they get revenge by letting them meow at 5 AM every day: ‘Oh, I thought you liked feeding her’

Trending Now

Employee quits job without notice, then gets threatened with litigation by HR if they don't return their work phone immediately, employee refuses to comply: ‘They deserve no respect’

Boss begs for former employee to come back after entire department falls apart, employee considers his options: 'My salary increased by 120%!'

Company gets rid of bonus incentives to work on holidays, then reprimands employees for not volunteering to work: ‘You only get as much loyalty as you pay for’

Job candidate notices entitled CEO reposting the same position on a job board during his interview: 'We were literally still on the call together!'

‘It was an infuriating but liberating feeling’: Under-appreciated employee finally quits after 10 years, company realizes he's holding the whole place together and matches his new offer, still walks away

Father of 4-year-old admits to wanting to play with child for "ten minutes each day," sparking parenting debate: 'The truth is I just don't like being around kids for very long'

This Dad came online with some musings about parenthood, namely how much he tolerates playing with his kid

This top comment had 14k likes...

The dad didn't agree with that commenter, but he's forgetting the nature of the internet these days

Tags