Mothers of daughters know they have a lot to prepare their children for when it comes to the body, puberty and reproductive health. So when we can share an experience with them that they can reference for the future, when we may not be immediately there, we tend to seize the opportunity.
When one mom did just that with her own 10-year-old daughter, her husband totally disagreed with it.
The dad began his Reddit post explaining that his wife had already taken a test and had gotten a faint yes.
"She was fairly sure she was pregnant because of that and the symptoms she'd been experiencing, so when she tested a few days later she asked our daughter if she wanted to do it with her," he wrote. "Our daughter did, so they took the test together. I only found out later when the test confirmed my wife was pregnant and she told me."
He thought this was way over the line.
"I let my wife know that I thought this was bad parenting," he said. "Our daughter (10) is still too young to be exposed to things like that and certainly up close. There was no reason or justification for it. I have never heard of a mother doing a pregnancy test together with her daughter, and even if it was a thing, it would still be wrong in my view. She also should have asked me first before she did something like this. I don't think this decision should have been made unilaterally. All of this makes it a really poor decision, in my opinion."
His wife isn't at all on the same page.
"My wife doesn't agree," he said. "She felt it was a 'bonding' experience and an opportunity for her and our daughter to talk more about their bodies and educate her more on pregnancy and the reproductive system. She thinks I owe her an apology for saying she acted like a bad parent in that situation. I disagree."
So now he wants to know if he is totally in the wrong or if is wife is the one who should be doing the apologizing.
Reddit's almost unanimous response? He is so very, very wrong.
"I'm not sure any man, even the father, should try to criticize a mother for teaching her daughter about things related to reproduction," wrote one Redditor. "Certainly demonstrating that mommy can learn at home if she's pregnant or not isn't the first step in the decline and fall of the traditional family, or whatever it is you hold dear."
Others noted that what mom did was in no way inappropriate.
"Children are taught the birds and the bees when they're in 4th grade, so 10," wrote another "She's old enough to learn about pregnancy, and the test is just peeing on a stick, nothing scandalous or traumatizing."
Here's to hoping this dad can apologize to his wife and the three of them can get to celebrating their wonderful news!
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