Featured Image Credit: Jürgen Fälchle / gerard ferry / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Parenting
Callum Jones
Topics: Parenting
A dad has been slammed online for insisting that his wife pays him for 'babysitting' their daughter.
The anonymous man took to the 'AmItheA**hole' Reddit forum to explain how his wife and their neighbour have become good friends thanks to their shared love of horror films.
Walter, the neighbour, is a single father who has two daughters, one 12 and 14.
The dad is not a fan of horror films, so while Walter and his wife watch the movies, he looks after their 10-year-old daughter Emily and Walter's two children.
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On Reddit, he wrote: "My wife really likes watching scary movies but I have never enjoy them. I get too scared and end up having a bad time so I prefer to avoid them.
"She has always had a hard time finding people that have this niche interest and that is why it was such a big deal when we met Walter and found out he also shares this tendency.
"They very quickly started to make plans to watch movies together. I was invited to be a part of this but refused."
While the man explained that his wife does usually watch horror films at Walter's house, he did say that they sometimes go to the cinema together, too.
He continued: "They eventually started doing stuff outside of watching movies like going out for dinner.
"Walter invited all of us, including the kids, to go with him to a restaurant that a friend of him owned but I said no because it was too expensive."
The dad also described it as a 'waste of money', adding that he was happy Walter, and his wife were going out more often as 'she can no longer complain about me not taking her to fancy restaurants'.
But the dad quickly became tired of looking after the kids, writing: "As both their movie and dinner nights have become so common, I have grown a little tired of the burden of constantly babysitting the girls."
As a result, Walter offered to pay a 'standard' babysitter fee each time he goes out with the man's wife, but she quickly shut down the idea.
He concluded: "My wife was fully against it. We have been arguing about this but she insists on this notion and is not open to change.
"She even gets mad every time I talk to her about this. Walter promised me that he will convince her but he does not seem to have been able to do so either."
Over 3,000 people have flocked to the comment section of the Reddit post, with it proving very difficult to find anyone on the dad's side.
"You aren't babysitting your daughter, you're parenting," one person said.
A second added: "To clarify, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a friend of the opposite sex who shares a hobby.
"The issue is - he is refusing to participate in any aspect of his wife’s interests or fill her romantic needs, letting Walter fill the whole vacuum of his neglect."
And a third remarked: "Getting paid for babysitting is the least of his worries."