January 27, 2025 at 1:22 am

Dad Struggles With Clingy Daughter After Newborn Arrives, But When He Asks His Wife To Help She Refuses

by Diana Whelan

Source: Reddit/AITA/Pexels/Paweł L.

Parenting is a team sport—at least, that’s what this dad thought.

With a newborn in the house and a 4-year-old in full daddy-obsession mode, he asked his wife for backup. But her response? Handle it yourself.

Now, he’s wondering if he crossed the line by expecting a little support in tackling their daughter’s monster-filled tantrums.

Let’s read all the details.

AITA for telling my wife I need her to backup my parenting?

I (29M) have three kids. My oldest daughter will be 5 in April, my son is 3, and I have a newborn daughter who is 2wks old right now.

My oldest (let’s call her Alice) has always preferred me – a “daddy’s girl” since the very beginning.

She was a bit jealous when her brother was born, but ultimately was too little to really understand and it just kind of blew over.

This time? Not so much!

She’s more of a daddy’s girl than ever.

Every since the baby came home, Alice has been attached to my side – literally and figuratively.

Monsters always appear in her closet whenever I’m taking care of the baby, monsters that only I can “get rid of” – apparently I’m magic that way.

Alice wants to be carried everywhere, and won’t go to sleep unless I rock her in the rocking chair.

When she woke up one morning and saw me giving the baby a bottle, she got upset and tried to shove her way onto my lap.

He thought maybe his wife could help.

I asked my wife for help with the situation. I explained that I don’t want to be bad cop everytime Alice is clinging to me or demanding something, (like the “carry me” tantrums) so I’d really appreciate it if she’d back me up – a verbal warning, or helping me remove Alice from my leg.

She got mad at me for this. She said that she’s got a lot on her plate already, doesn’t think she needs to get involved in this and that we don’t need to “make a fuss” over “a phase that’s going to go away eventually”.

Apparently she thinks I should just handle this myself for now.

AITA for asking my wife to back up my parenting?

Parenting through jealousy is hard, but navigating it solo is even harder. While this dad hoped for teamwork, his wife seems to be prioritizing the “ride it out” method—leaving him to be the sole monster hunter and tantrum wrangler.

What’s Reddit think here?

This person says OP is the AH.

Source: Reddit/AITA

But this person thinks he’s just kinda clueless.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This person says there’s no AH, but is probably more on the wife’s side.

Source: Reddit/AITA

When one parent’s “phase” is another parent’s meltdown marathon, teamwork shouldn’t be optional.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.