Patricia Grisafi
Everyone who has kids knows how precious sleep and personal time is.
But you’ve got to be able to prioritize. And if you’re a parent who is spending most of your time playing video games and sleeping, it’s time to get a reality check.
On Reddit, one woman faced a family emergency alone because her game-playing husband had locked himself in the bedroom in order to sleep. And this isn’t just a one-time incident.
“Background about my husband: He stays up late at night and has to wake up early to go to work. So when he gets home at 5, he has to get his 2hrs nap so he could both make up for lack of sleep and also be ready to stay up late to play with his console.”
“He values his sleep and has one rule in the house that he enforces strictly, which is to not be interrupted while sleeping. He literally put a sign on the bedroom door saying ‘DO.NOT.WAKE.ME.UP” under any circumstances, just no, unless someone’s hurt or dead though; in this case he said he still wouldn’t be of much help anyway. The kids and I would sometimes wake him up but for serious reasons. He got mad and started locking the door. I get no access to the room for 2 hours but that’s not the main problem.”
“This past Tuesday, my 3yo son had hot oil spill on his hand while his 14yo sister was cooking, I heard him scream and saw that the oil was covering his hand and half of his arm, I brought the first aid kit but he was in so much pain and his skin looked really bad. I rushed to wake my husband up, I kept knocking but got no response so I tried to open it but it was locked. I spent a while between knocking on the door (he had his phone turned off) and getting dressed after my daughter asked the neighbor to drive us to the hospital. I couldn’t waste more time cause my son was crying. The neighbor took us to the hospital and I couldn’t help feel livid the whole time.”
“We got home and my husband was pacing around asking wherever were and why I didn’t answer his texts. I blew up on him after I showed him our son’s injury and told him that I pounded on the door to wake him up but he said had his earbuds on and didn’t hear a thing. I called him reckless and neglectful for ignoring a family emergency. He said I could say the same thing about myself for leaving our son unsupervised and causing him to get a burn. I stopped arguing and went to remove the bedroom door lock, he started yelling at me saying I had no right. I refused to respond I just walked off to calm down. He didn’t stop complaining calling me bossy and saying that by removing the lock I’ve destroyed his peace and quiet and caused him sleep deprivation. He’s insisting I put it back but I refused. I could be wrong for what I’ve done but I was frustrated and mad. AITA?”
As Redditors rightly noted, this is one of those posts that is about way more than just a lock on the door.
“WTF did I just read? Your husband takes an early evening nap so he can stay up late to play video games? Do your kids have any relationship with him because it sounds like he never sees them awake. Obviously NTA,” said OneSuspect1.
“Nevermind this being his wake-up call, it needs to be OP’s. This is a man who has checked out from family life and obligations, and who cannot be relied upon in an emergency, and will flip the script and blame his wife when he couldn’t be relied upon in an emergency. Probably time to move out and seek a divorce, or to demand a radical change as you suggest to avoid a divorce,” stated Aether-Wind.
“NTA. Accidents happen, no matter how much you stay alert. But I don’t believe your husband didn’t hear you calling, he chose to ignore you,” said ToastedMarshmeowllow.
“NTA. Your son was seriously injured. What if the house had caught on fire? Would you have had to try and kick down the door to get your husband’s attention? The whole bit about him having to have a 2-hour nap as soon as he gets home from work bugs me. How about he goes to bed at a reasonable hour, rather than staying up late to play with his console? Does that mean he stays up late gaming? Sounds like he needs to grow up a bit,” said erin_kathleen.
“Your husband isn’t about his sleep, he’s about his games. He’s putting everyone, including you and his kids, to the side so he can game late into the night. I love games, but this is not ok. You had to get a NEIGHBOR to drive you to the hospital and instead of being contrite and concerned when you got back he tried to blame you for an accident thousands and thousands of people have every year. Even if you had been in the kitchen the oil still could have been spilt. That’s not a legitimate argument. It’s blame shifting, and it’s bullshit,” noted monsteramoons.
Featured Image: Pexels
