Kate Hackett
This is such a doozy of an ask! u/efalcone recently had to take to REDDIT to figure out if she was in the wrong for asking her husband to put on a shirt. Like, yes, lady, that is so weird.
She explains that her son is in a “copy dad” phase. Normal.
My toddler is going through a phase where he’s copying his dad constantly.
Also normal: toddlers who take off their clothes.
One of the things he’s decided to copy is taking off his clothes.
OP put two things together and wondered if they added up, so she asked her husband to put on a shirt.
I didn’t make the connection that he was copying my husband until recently but I asked my husband if he could stop walking around the house shirtless in front of our son because I wanted to see if it would make him stop doing it too.
Her husband was offended and said he barely even walks around topless.
He got offended and claims he’s barely ever shirtless in front of our son so that couldn’t be why he’s doing it, which isn’t true.
OP was thrown by the response since she just wanted to test a theory, but her husband is mad for even the suggestion.
I don’t think this is a big ask since it’s only temporary but he’s refusing to cooperate and is angry at me for even suggesting it.
AITA?
Reddit gave some words of Toddler Wisdom:
One Redditor wrote, “YTA for blaming your husband for something that all toddlers just do. Toddlers all love to take their clothes off and it’s developmentally normal. And personally I don’t see what the issue is, if a kid wants to walk around without a shirt in the privacy of your own home why does that bother you? Let the kid do his thing.”
Another broke it down carefully:
Your child is…a toddler. It’s completely developmentally appropriate for them to streak. Wait until they’re a few years older, and you will be dealing with them showing off/touching their genitals–at home and possibly outside the home if no early intervention is conducted.
This Redditor explained that this is all normal – as is experimenting with his or her genitals.
Are you afraid that your toddler will go outside and do something that you worry will reflect poorly on you as parents? If taking off clothing is the worst of it, people understand that toddlers be toddlin’. And there are ways to modify your tot’s behavior that don’t require dad to not feel free and comfortable at home. Further, it’s unwise to let your child’s (developmentally appropriate) behaviors run your home.
They also said that kids develop some weird behaviors that aren’t worth worrying about. They grow out of it.
I kindly suggest buying some parenting books and reading about child development, as this is making a mountain out of a molehill.
YTA.
Edit: I also don’t want to sound like a meanie–clearly you care about your child a lot, and he’s lucky to have you! I want to add that the book suggestion is for both you and your husband.
Someone else noted that the kid is just testing a new thing out. “I worked at a daycare in the younger toddler room with up to 16 kids in my class at a time. Literally every child, male or female, went through SOME kind of stripping phase. Taking off shirts, pants, shoes and socks…can confirm, toddlers be toddlin’.”
“My nephew had a period where he only wanted to pee outside, in the yard, when he was about 3 or 4. Not a soul in the family did this, but he would constantly try to sneak out to Tarzan on the bushes. He found it hiliarious. In short – kids just do things sometimes,” wrote yet another helpful soul.
