"Hubby Stepping in to Save My Sanity" — Dad Tells Kids to Stop Saying Mom All the Time

Kids rely on their mothers, which makes sense, given that their moms birthed them, fed them, and hopefully raised them to be productive members of society. But often, children can develop overreliance on their parents and are quick to ask them to help out with whatever they want or need without even attempting to solve their problems themselves.

This type of behavior can culminate in an incessant chorus of children calling out "Mom" every day. A baby crying for their mom is only natural, but a kid who knows how to read, write, and operate most consumer tech products isn't.

And one dad decided he had heard enough of his kids constantly requesting help from their mom by calling out her name. So he held a family meeting to lay some ground rules regarding the nonstop "mom" cacophony.

Instagram user and "Inner Growth Coach" Doreen Korba (@doreenkorba) documented the meeting on video, which she shared to social media in a clip that garnered over 51,000 views.

It begins with her significant other standing in the living room and speaking to their children. "I know you guys love your mother. I love her too," he says.

"But like every day, like, even just this morning, inside of an hour of being up, like every minute: 'Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom — too many moms," he tells them. "OK? You guys are old enough to do stuff on your own, and I know that you love to show us stuff, but like, this needs to like slow down a little bit."

In a caption for her post, Doreen expressed how grateful she was for her husband's decision to address this aspect of their family dynamic. "The hubby stepping in to save what's left of my sanity," she quipped.

"You know he means business when he calls a family meeting on the couch."

She ended her message with a declaration of solidarity, intoning how difficult she finds it to have her children at home during the summer. "Couple more weeks of summer, moms, we got this," Doreen penned.

Folks who replied to her video stated that they found the father's decision to call a family meeting endearing. "HR dad telling them to check the SOPs," one said.

Another stated that they also felt as if the dad's meeting felt like something out of corporate America. "Good board meeting everyone. Hopefully we can meet our goals for next quarter," they joked.

Someone else took note of how Doreen's husband was looking towards the camera during the video.

"The way he keeps looking over at you like he’s making sure he’s getting his brownie points," the Instagram user said.

Another person on the application didn't seem to think that Dad's speech was going to have much of an effect. They wrote that the children in the video looked like they were simply waiting for their father to stop speaking so they could go right back to asking their mother for assistance.

"The kids just waiting for him to be done so they can call for mom again," they wrote.

And there was another person who remarked that they were unapologetic about asking for their mom's help all of the time. "Looking back, when I was their age, I was insufferable with how much I called on my mother. She had all the answers and made everything amazing, and I couldn't get enough. As he's talking, I know they're thinking, 'I'll have to follow up with mom after.' Moms, you guys are amazing and make our childhood and life worthwhile. We cannot get enough of y'all! Even me at my big age," they said.

Incessantly calling out for Mom is a phenomenon that's been discussed by others, like in this Scary Mommy blog post. The author, a dad, penned an open letter to children everywhere, highlighting that they can turn to fathers for help, too. The opening of their entry on the website highlighted an incident where he was able to sew his child's favorite stuffed animal back together, covering up some of the holes it had suffered from everyday wear and tear.

Upon seeing his father successfully fix his toy, the child looked at his dad with shock. "Dads don't sew," the kid said, before bringing the stuffed toy to his mother to inspect the work his father did. Furthermore, the same dad wrote about how he'd often see children ask their mothers to get them food from a refrigerator, despite the fact that he was standing right next to the fridge.

The iMom blog also talked about this phenomena as well, and shared some helpful tips on how to get children to be more independent instead of constantly requesting assistance from their mothers.

They shared how their child will often ask questions they already know the answer to, like what time they "have to leave for school."

Instead of simply telling them the time, the author answered their question with a question of their own, one that forced their child to think for themselves.

"What time do we always leave?" the mom asked, which prompted the kid to think and say, "7:45." Furthermore, the mom said that in these instances, prompting a child to remember the things that they learned can be a good way to remind them that they're more independent than they believe they are, which reinforces skills that they've gathered in their young lives.

Additionally, if a child is persistent in asking a parent to perform tasks that they're capable of doing themselves, urging them to try and do it themselves can be a good way to exercise independent thought and action.

The writer recommends setting a timer for 3-5 minutes. If the kid quits attempting to finish it before the timer is up, then they really weren't all that interested in getting it done anyway.

And if they persist and do fix it, then that could instill a feeling of confidence as they'll be equipped with the knowledge of getting it done in the future. If the timer kicks off after 5 minutes and they didn't get their work done that they wanted to, then they at least tried to do something for themselves, which is another important practice in their development.

Either way, this should prompt words of encouragement from parents to their kids.