There are various ways to make an ungrateful and disrespectful individual realize that their behavior is unacceptable, but what if that person is your father? This is where things become problematic since we adore and respect him. However, family members have every right to point out negative actions that harm the household. Let’s examine how an internet user handled this scenario.
My father is the “breadwinner,” while my mom is a stay-at-home mom. She handles everything around the house, like cooking, mopping, washing, laundry, etc.
I’m the oldest, and I try to help until my dad gets home at the end of the day and literally complains about everything: how the carpet is dirty or how the food is cold.
As a result, I’d have to listen to huge arguments daily between him and my mom. It’s exhausting but honestly… I think that my dad is in the wrong here.
I tried talking to him to get him to see his bad behavior but to no avail.
So what I did was pick a day off for him and pretend to act like him. I acted like him. I put together an outfit that looked like a suit and put black tape over my lips to resemble a mustache.
At 6 p.m. I went inside the house and shouted, “I’M HOME!!” Then I sat next to him in the living room and started kicking my shoes while complaining about the state of the house at the top of my lungs.
He glanced at me, confused, asking what I was doing. I ignored him and then started yelling about the carpet being dirty, the shower not being ready, the kids needing to be quiet, and so on.
He kept staring while my mom and siblings laughed. My youngest brother kept pointing toward me, saying, “This is Daddy.” I then proceeded to yell about dinner, then berated my mom for not preparing it on time. My dad stopped me and, in a serious tone, asked what I was doing.
I turned to him and said, “WHAT?! CAN’T A MAN REST AFTER WORKING LONG HOURS!!” in the most macho voice I could muster.
My dad got the hint because this is the common phrase he uses daily. He went quiet and avoided looking at me. I stopped the act and told him I was trying to show him what he’s like every day when he comes home from work. He said nothing, just went outside, and refused to speak to me.
Later, he went on about how I “mocked” and invalidated him. He said he does work hard and doing this was disrespectful and invalidating. Mom said it was funny but also thought I hurt my dad’s feelings, and that I could’ve gotten the message across some other way instead.
Was I wrong?
