Fury as Mom of 3 Overhears Husband Saying She 'Does Nothing All Day'

A woman has taken to Reddit and shared the story of how her husband said "my wife does nothing all day" while he was playing video games with a friend. Low_Royal1282 explained: "He was playing a video game with his friend last night and I overheard him say this. I understand I'm fortunate to have him. My husband works hard. He is a line worker, he puts in a lot of hours and sometimes has to travel. But he needs me too. I take care of everything with our children (m10, f6, m3).

"I get them ready for school every morning. My children are always put together. I take care of their uniforms, hair, lunch, etc. While taking care of the baby. Our oldest son does hockey and our daughter does ballet, they both have practice almost everyday. My husband is proud of them. But I am the one who makes sure they are always prepared and on time. I make my family dinner every night. I do all the laundry and cleaning. I wake up early to make my husband breakfast and say goodbye. My husband loves how I take care of myself but it can be hard to remember myself as a mom. I do it for him. It bothers me he sees it as "nothing". I didn't expect to hear that, I thought he valued me."

According to a survey by Magnify Money, the number of stay-at-home moms and dads increased significantly between 2019 and 2021, with the average percentage of parents staying at home now standing at 2.4 percent compared to 1.5 percent in 2019. The survey also found that Mississippi was the state with the highest percentage of stay-at-home parents, with 6.5 percent, and Iowa had the lowest at 0.9 percent.

Newsweek spoke to Jason Best, a Chicago-based therapist and founder of Best Therapies, Inc. He told us, "The mother who cooks and cleans for everyone else, but struggling with self care is a pretty good working definition of an exhausted co-dependent caretaker. If we consistently act as if other people's needs are important, but routinely ignore our own, we risk teaching our friends and family that we are ultimately unimportant. For any readers who are connecting with this, I would also recommend that you start thinking about where in your life you need to set boundaries, and how you can teach both yourself and the folks around you that your needs and preferences do matter, and should be considered. Boundaries are a great way to connect with yourself, because saying "no, I do not want this" is an excellent way to discover what your "yes" might look like."

Redditors offered their own advice to the OP.

User endofthelinebucko said: "Definitely talk to him, as a lot of people have said, have a conversation. Sometimes you'll get through and sometimes you won't but it's a good place to start."

Melt185 commented: "My ex told someone I was a "housewife" and told his coworker that I slept 'til 11AM. Um, I was a SAHM with a toddler, so not sure how anyone thought that was possible."

User Jekker5 wrote: "This right here. Mention to him you overheard this and tell him how it made you feel. Communication is key and even though smack talking on a headset could be written off as him not meaning anything by it, it still hurts."

Newsweek has reached out to u/Low_Royal1282 for comment.