16-Year-Old Boy Says Only “Failed Men” Do Chores, His Divorced Parents React in a Powerful Way

An anonymous man, 34, has recently turned to Reddit and asked people for a piece of advice about his edgy and tense situation with his 16-year-old son. Despite being divorced, the OP respects his ex-wife and genuinely admires her for being an excellent mother and an amazing housewife. But the OP’s son made a disturbing statement about doing the housework, and the father found it humiliating and disrespectful both for him and his ex-wife. So, the parents decided to teach their son a good practical lesson to make him a better person and to instill some respect into a young man’s brain.

A man turned to Reddit to share his mind-stirring and very complex situation with netizens.

A man, 34, has posted a very emotional story on Reddit, and his life situation made people go savage in the comments. The OP wrote, “I (34M) got a 16-year-old son with my ex (34F). We had our son way too early in life; we lived on the same street growing up, and knew each other from school. We fooled around sometimes, and the rest is history.”

“I’m ashamed to say, but both our parents have been exceptionally controlling in both our lives up until the divorce, and both my ex and me were too much of a pushover to do anything about it. When they learned she was pregnant, they forced us to get married. They told me they want her as a SAHM and me to work.”

“My ex and I, we hated each other for our stolen lives. We were never cruel to one another, and have never displayed any hatred in our house for our son’s sake. But we slept in different bedrooms, and avoided each other as much as we could.”

“We split up after I caught her ’cheating’ which finally made us both able to break off the chains of control both our parents had over us and get divorced 2 years ago. Now everything is very good between us and I even consider her a friend, now that she’s no longer my wife.”

The OP sincerely respects and admires his ex-spouse and everything she did for their family.

The man goes on with his story, saying, “And, credit where credit is due, she was, however, a remarkable homemaker and an amazing mother. When we divorced, I had to learn all of this on my own. It was the first time I realized how much work goes into maintaining a house, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I had to look up YouTube tutorials on how to clean and cook.”

But the OP’s 16-year-old son seemed to take his mom’s effort for granted, and it soon came to the surface, accompanied by some really nasty beliefs that the boy had.

The OP wrote, [edited], “A few weeks ago, I was ironing my and my teenage son’s clothes and told him that I want to teach him how to do this. He said he doesn’t want to, and added that ’only failed men do stuff like this, and I won’t be one of them.’ I tried to keep my composure as much as I could
but then, to my shock, my son said that it is his belief that this is a woman’s job to do and that only simps do simple household chores.”

The man added, “I asked if he saw me as a simp, and he just shrugged.”

The OP was dumbfounded by his son’s disrespectful remark, so he decided to act immediately.

The OP wrote, “I told him that now he will have to choose his next words very carefully, but I said that he will learn household work whether he likes it or not. He again reiterated what he said, and I said, ’Well, if you think this is a woman’s job, it’s time for you to live with a woman’ and to pack his bag and to go to his mom’s house, as I will not have any of that nonsense in my house.”

The father explained, “My son lives with me during the week as his school is only 5 minutes away and his mom nearly 2 hours. He refused to make his bag, so I made it for him, he started seeing the gravity of my seriousness and tried to backtrack on his words, but I wasn’t having any of it.”

“He must’ve called his mom in the time I was packing, as she called me as well. She asked me what’s going on, and I told her what happened. Surprisingly, she’s on my side and has just asked me to drop him off at hers, and she’ll help teach him a lesson.”

The young man received a good life lesson from his parents.

The OP goes on with his story, saying, “It’s been about 2 weeks now that he lives with his mom, and she has been reinforcing the household chores on him.”

“He’s called me multiple times to apologize and asking me to come back, his mom and I agreed he’s going to stick this up for a week or 2 after the holidays, and make him commute to school and do lesser household chores; and then let him come back to me to reinforce the consequence of his ’belief’.”

“My friends that I spent Christmas with yesterday said I was rather hard, and it was a very cruel move to uproot his life like this, and it was a nasty thing to do. So now I am questioning myself, was I the bad person here?”

People rushed to the comments section to express their opinions about the situation.

People of Reddit were mainly supportive of the dad’s decision. As OP mentioned himself after reading the comments, “This exploded far beyond what I had imagined happening, I wanna say thanks to everyone for the kind words.”

One person wrote, “My mother taught my brother how to cook, clean, and wash his clothes before going to university, and he hated it. BUT, when he got to university, he was one of very few who could do those things, and he helped teach others how to feed themselves and wash their clothes, hahaha.”

Another commenter said, “I definitely understand some of your pain for sure. I’m 34f, hubby is 34m, and our son is 15. My husband wasn’t military or anything, but he was raised by his mom and grandma, mostly with a younger sister. He’s extremely proud that he can do any chore with ease. (Which helps me so much because my allergies/asthma don’t let me clean anything with dust without having an attack. 🤣)
Our son has always loved to cook, and with my physical health deteriorating quickly, he often steps up to make dinner. We’ve taught him how to do his own laundry, dishes, and everything else that we can think of. As a woman, I’m extremely grateful for a husband who can take care of us in any way. (Especially on the bad health days.)
We just assumed to carry on teaching him how to live on his own, then maybe one day, he’ll make whatever partner he chooses very happy as well. It also gives me peace of mind, knowing he can take care of himself without us if need be. Good job, sir. You guys are definitely on the right track.”

One more user added, “I teach teens. Since you’re both on the same page about teaching him a lesson, I applaud you. And points to you for recognizing it as toxic nonsense. From here out, your young man makes his own lunch, does his own laundry, and takes more responsibility. No backsliding allowed.
I would question, based on your description, if he’s getting these ideas from his grandparents. Something to consider.”

And here’s yet another story that made people erupt with emotions. A desperate dad posted his story to Reddit and told people how his wife kicked her 10-year-old stepson, the man’s son, from a family picture. The man couldn’t remain indifferent and taught his wife a good lesson.