SAHM Says Husband Couldn't Handle the Kids While She Went to a Book Club Meeting

To say moms get the short end of the stick isn’t a jab at fathers; it’s simply an observation I’ve made through personal experience and from watching and listening to others around me. Moms tend to take on the brunt of parenting duties (we even sacrifice our bodies). From watching the kids to cooking, cleaning, bathing, and putting them to bed, moms often do it all, right up until their kids are old enough to handle things themselves (basically, adulthood).

And more often than not, we sell ourselves short when it comes to taking time for ourselves. But every once in a while, it’s nice to squeeze in an hour or two just to be ourselves, not a caregiver. That’s exactly what TikTok user Baylee (@bayleevandegrift) was hoping for when she asked her husband for two hours to attend a book club. After all, she says she never does anything for herself and is raising three kids under the age of three. But according to Baylee, he couldn’t handle it.

Baylee begins by explaining that she had put her two-hour moms' book club night (from 7 to 9 p.m.) on the calendar over a month in advance. She says this was a rare outing for her, since she never does anything for herself.

She’s a stay-at-home mom to an almost 3-year-old, an almost 2-year-old, and a 4-month-old, so this wasn’t exactly a big ask. So, the night book club finally arrived, and Baylee called her husband around 5:30 to remind him of the event. Because hey, people forget things, right?

But again, it was on the calendar. Instead of being appreciative of the reminder, her husband got upset. Turns out, he forgot and had made plans to work on their new house, which is currently under renovation.

So, he told Baylee to bring the kids out to the worksite so he could carry on with his plans and watch the kids there. After packing everyone up (as requested) and driving them out there, she finally arrived at the book club — 20 minutes late, meaning she missed a solid chunk of the discussion. But that wasn’t even the worst part.

Baylee says that while she was there, she received at least 10 calls from her husband, all complaining that he couldn’t handle the kids. She could even hear the baby crying in the background.

So, like any dedicated mom would, Baylee left early and made it back to her kids by 8:30, cutting her two-hour “break” down to less than an hour. When she arrived, the baby was still crying … and her husband, well, he had earplugs in.

So she packed the kids up and headed home. At the end of the clip, Baylee asks if she’s in the wrong, but let’s be real, the answer seems pretty clear. All she asked for was two hours. Not a girls' night out. Not a weekend trip to Cabo. Just … a book club.

Commenters all sided with her, many pointing out that fathers aren’t supposed to babysit their kids, they’re supposed to parent them. But in this case, it sounded a lot like Baylee’s husband felt like he was being forced to watch his own kids, rather than viewing it as an opportunity to spend quality time with them. Especially since Baylee’s home with them all day while he works outside the home.