For both stay-at-home and working mamas, it can sometimes feel like your partner has no real idea of what you do all day long. But especially for moms who work in the home, he doesn't see the planning, the cleaning, the cooking, and yes, the childcare you're providing for free. Which is why one mom is being praised online for seriously clapping back at her man who tried to chastise her for not having a pristine refrigerator and not being on her food game to the point of throwing out food the moment it went bad … because that's her job too, right?
As the busy mom explained, the drama started right after she finished putting her baby to bed. And of course, her husband was no help in getting dinner ready while she did that.
In a viral post published on her Facebook page, Lady Mama-lard, the mom who only goes by "June" online shared that she had just put her baby down for the night and was hoping that her husband would take initiative … for once.
"Dave and I were doing our usual frantic rush around after putting the baby to bed; I’m finishing cooking the tea, cleaning the kitchen, throwing anything that resembles a talking pink pig into the corner of the room whilst Dave hurriedly dries his balls after his long leisurely shower… just so we can SIT DOWN AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for at LEAST one hour until one of us falls asleep," she wrote.
Of course, the tired mom had just about finished getting dinner ready when her husband Dave "graces me with his helpful presence."
“When’s tea ready babe?” he asked. Which is the exact moment that June snapped to herself. "Oh my god I just love being relied on 24 hours a day it COMPLETES ME," she wrote.
But instead of flipping out, June attempted to get her husband to help her finish up preparing their dinner.
As many women know, getting your husband to help in the kitchen can feel just as frustrating as involving your kiddo — you have to give clear, deliberate instructions on what needs to be done. And Dave wasn't proving to be any different. "Just grab the cheese from the fridge and grate some for me please," June told him, but it appeared that Dave wasn't an auditory learner. "Dave embraces the task in hand as always by asking where’s the grater, where’s the cheese and where’s the bloody fridge."
If that wasn't annoying enough, Dave then foolishly chastised June for leaving ground meat in the fridge that was only — wait for it — ONE day past its sell-by date.
“… . June, there’s out of date mince in here. It went off yesterday,” Dave told her.
"OH MY CHRIST RING THE FOOD HYGIENE BOARD AND SLAP ME WITH A 1 OUT OF 5 THIS INSTANCE!" she joked. Naturally, the mom suggested that her husband make the trek to the trashcan and throw the meat out instead of carrying on about it.
"And then it came," she wrote. "The mortifying statement that has haunted me for the past 12 hours. The reason I am currently questioning my abilities as a woman and a mother."
“'I thought you would have chucked it out to be fair babe,'" Dave told her. "'You are normally on fridge maintenance.'”
WAIT, what?
"I think I could feel myself levitate three inches off the ground whilst I really came to terms with what was just said to me," June described. "Fridge maintenance. Like it’s a job."
"How on EARTH could I neglect my one and only job that I do around here?!'" June continued. "I’ve only ever got to worry about the FRIDGE MAINTENANCE and I can’t even do that right!"
Which is when June had to break it to Dave that fridge maintenance is not one of her marketable skills.
The mom joked that she was "mortified" at her lapse in fridge responsibilities. "How could I let this task, that has so clearly been given to me in honor, slip to such a low standard?" she wrote. "I obviously don’t do the washing, the dusting, the hoovering, the folding, the dishes, the tidying, the shopping. I just have ONE job. To maintain the f*kin fridge."
“Dave. Are you for real. Did you just actually say to me that it’s on me to throw out an 'out of date' item…?” she asked.
"Don’t get offended babe I just know that you love that sort of stuff,” he replied.
Yes, because we all know that the only reason why women clean is because they "love" to do it. "Am I just the most boring person in the world and not even realized?! Does he really think I get my frills from checking the best before dates shelf by shelf?" June asked. Frustrated, June told Dave to just throw out the meat, but unfortunately he still couldn't get it together.
"I’m walking away to have a long, hard think about how I can get away with just doing my own washing and cook my own tea in future without looking petty… " June wrote. But then Dave kept pestering her. How much cheese should he grate? And how? And did she want it inside the food or on top of it?
"How does this boy function on a daily [expletive] basis?! … Honestly, I feel I could have been half way through my dinner by now and half way to the land of nod if I’d just done it myself," she lamented.
"Tell me something, Dave," June asked him. "If I’m on fridge maintenance, laundry maintenance, hoovering maintenance, toilet scrubbing maintenance and King Dave maintenance… what are you maintaining my love? Apart from your relationship with the dog and Sky Sports?"
But instead of feeling the burn, Dave deflected the sting and cracked a joke instead. "'Aw don’t be like that babe, I don’t know what’s the matter with you now. GRATING on you am I?!'"
Oh, brother.
June says that she wrote the post in good fun and never expected her story to go viral.
Speaking with CafeMom, June candidly says that she has no idea how or why her story has taken off. But it's been a pleasant surprise to see that she isn't alone in having an unhelpful hubby.
"I’m just a normal woman, living a normal life," she says. "I guess it’s a rarity to see an unfiltered and uncensored account of how life and relationships actually are?! In a time where everything is filtered and everything is strategic? It’s unrealistic!"
"No one wants this kind of relationship," she continues. "It’s not something that anyone would aspire to." But the mom says she isn't looking to tell stories for couples who want to pretend that everything is perfect all the time, "I’m writing it for the 'Junes!' Have a laugh on me!"
When asked what her husband thinks about his new-found Internet fame, June says that he's taken the notoriety with grace. "I love the bones of Dave. Like all 'Daves' out there, he’s also sweet and generous and so funny (once or twice a year..)," she explains. "He puts up with my obsessive ways and doesn’t mind me taking the [expletive] out of him to an audience of 20,000 angry women."
Though June says her husband can also drive her nuts. "He annoys me like no other! But I wouldn’t be without him…" Which, let's be real, is how many of us feel about our husbands most of the time.
"I didn’t know that my relationship was so NORMAL?!" June adds. "I was ready to pack my bags and set off into the sunset for my fairytale man, who probably doesn’t exist, if it wasn’t for all the 'Junes' coming forward to say… 'me too!'"
"At least we can have a laugh along the way eh?!" she adds. "I'm alright with that…"
