"I left my son with my husband for a week and this is exactly what happened."

As much as I love my husband, after leaving him with our son for a week, I have come to the realisation I do not love his solo parenting abilities.

In fact, it was a bit of an eye opener about how much I do and how very little he does in relation to domestic tasks or everyday child caring tasks.

Yes, both he and my son came through alive, unharmed and relatively happy – but at the same time, our ‘family fun’ money was spent on Uber Eats, no one cleaned…anything, not even themselves and rather than getting out and spending quality time together, they stayed housebound watching Disney movies and Netflix.

Team Mamamia confess… what we don’t tell our partners.

My husband who is rarely at home with our child alone had the primary role of looking after him while I went away to a work conference for a week. I was initially hesitant to go but after my husband assured me that he was 200 per cent confident that he could “easily” parent solo I made the decision to go for it.

Like most mums, I left lists of the routine, grocery orders, general information that he may require to alleviate any issues, but when I returned home I found the list at the bottom of an Uber Eats package mountain that had formed while I was away.

When I returned home I didn’t react to the mess, the smells (yes, my son actually smelt) or the fact that our bank account that was meant for all of us to do something really fun with was completely drained on convenience food. The shock overcame any reaction that was even thinking of coming to the surface.

Instead, I asked what they did each day in attempt to try and understand. Here is the diary of a father and his son when left to their own devices.

Monday – Day 1

“Monday, we ordered Maccas because you know he never gets to have it when you look after him,” said my husband as if this fact meant there was something wrong with me.

“We ate popcorn and lollies and had a movie day, it was great! We didn’t even get out of our PJs, did we?” he said looking to my three-year-old son for back-up.

OK, a one-off movie date with McDonalds, whatever that’s fine.

Tuesday – Day 2

“He really wanted Maccas again, but I ordered him the seared wrap this time,” my husband justified to me. This was the healthy option apparently.

“He also got the second Rohald Dahl book from the series, so it was also educational,” he continued.

“You pay good money for those books.”

Wednesday – Day 3

“We watched every episode of Paw Patrol, it was ruff-tastic,” he joked.

Not sure if... funny.

“We ordered noodles today and they had vegetables so really it is homemade just not made at home,” my husband said… absolutely seriously.

Thursday – Day 4

“Thursday was pizza day, you need to try this place’s meat lovers it is honestly the best I have ever had.”

I looked down at my son’s pyjamas that he was wearing, and yes, the evidence of Thursday’s meat lovers was all over them.

Friday – Day 5

“I thought about ordering a big lunch, so you didn’t have to cook dinner when you got home but I wanted to save some money,” my husband explained to me.

More like you ran out of money from the family fun account and knew if you touched more from another one that I would be eating you for dinner for the next week.

As I hugged my son and smelt the stench of one week of the same pyjamas and left-over food dried onto them (and him), I took in a deep breath and smiled.

Because, really, what else can you do?

Has this ever happened to you? Can you relate? Tell us in a comment below.

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