A dad has been praised over his response to a teacher after they wanted proof that his daughter was on her period.
Posting on Reddit, a letter was shared in which the dad explained that his daughter's word wasn't enough when she explained that she could not participate in the PE lesson due to period pain.
Recalling what happened, the dad said his daughter was told she would need to 'verify' that she was in fact on her period, in order for her to be able to sit out the lesson.
In response, he wrote a letter to the teacher, which was shared on Reddit by a friend.
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It read: "My daughter informed me that I needed to write a note to you verifying that she is menstruating. My first thought was to simply say, 'yes, she is indeed quite difficult to deal with this week'.
"However, that sounds very chauvinistic. Then I thought a simple, 'yes, she is on her period' would suffice. However, additional moments of thought on the topic made me realize that I was merely taking her word for it. Her word was not good enough for P.E. class, so I’m not sure why her word through me as a mediator would have any more validity.
"I decided to investigate and determine If I could verify this phenomenon was occurring. I began by checking the trash cans in the bathroom. There are indeed used feminine hygiene products, but I live with three women so this seems inconclusive.
"Next I checked the dirty clothes hampers. Apparently feminine hygiene products do their job quite well because I could find no traces of a monthly visitor on anyone’s undergarments.
"While checking the hampers, I got caught by my wife. I had no recourse but to explain what I was doing and why. She is a feminist and has been yelling stuff about the patriarchy for about 45 minutes now. I keep hearing the word 'divorce' and the phrase 'moving out'."
The dad went on to explain that he 'wasn't sure' how he could possibly verify that his daughter was on her period, adding: "I recall that [she] asked me to make a trip to the store at 6 a.m. Sunday morning to buy Playtex Sport tampons. I assume she was intending to use these for their designated purpose, but that is also merely circumstantial evidence at best.
"Short of holding her down and doing a visual inspection of her nether region, I’m not sure how I can verify this for you. Can we both just agree to take her word for it so I don’t have to go through a divorce AND a CPS investigation?
"Thank you for your consideration."
People were quick to praise the dad, with one person commenting on the thread: "This is the funniest thing I've ever read. I'm assuming it was written by a dad(?), go him!"
While another said: "Gold star Dadding right there."
And a third added: "This dad knows how to dad. I really admire him."
Topics: Parenting, Reddit, Women's Health, Health
Lucy Devine