Parenting can be a full-time juggling act.

Imagine feeling very sick, but it’s Halloween. Your kids want to go trick-or-treating. Would you take them trick-or-treating even though you feel sick, or would you try to find another option?

The man in this story was sick and exhausted and after a long workday.

He asked his teenage daughter to take the younger kids trick-or-treating.

His wife thinks that was a really bad idea.

Was the wife’s reaction valid? Read the full story below.

AITA for letting my oldest daughter take the kids trick or treating so I could sleep?

I (42M) have 3 children with my wife (41F), ages 16, 10, and 8.

My wife is an ICU nurse who works many, many more hours than me.

She has unpredictable, crazy hours.

I work only part-time because of this.

This man came home sick and exhausted after work.

I had been fighting off a bug, and work that day was busy.

I was very tired afterwards.

I came home, got the kids home, fed them, did what needed to be done, and got them prepared for trick-or-treating.

I was so exhausted.

He asked her oldest daughter if she could take the younger kids trick-or-treating, and she said it was fine.

My oldest daughter (16) was there with her boyfriend, and they had no plans except to stay in and watch movies.

I asked her if she minded taking the younger kids instead because I really felt like I needed to lay down.

She said no, didn’t mind, and was even excited.

They did some quick skeleton makeup on each other.

I texted my wife and told her before laying down.

His wife was enraged, saying there should at least one parent with the kids.

When I woke up 30 minutes later, I had several angry text messages from my wife.

She said I had no reason to not bring the kids, that they should’ve had one parent there, and that it wasn’t our daughter’s job.

I texted back, explaining that it wasn’t a big deal. Our daughter was fine with it and I was really sick, not realizing how mad she actually was.

His wife didn’t talk to him when she got home.

Trick-or-treating went fine.

The kids had a blast. I took a bunch of cute pictures.

Around 2 a.m., my wife got home.

I was asleep but woke up when she came in.

I said hi and asked how work was.

She didn’t answer me.

They got into a huge argument the next morning.

The next morning, we got into a big argument.

She said I had no reason not to be there and that I should’ve sucked it up for the kids.

I said the kids had a great time and I didn’t want to slow them down or cut their time short.

That just made her more mad. She said that’s why she said “suck it up,” and that she had an excuse while I didn’t, even though I never mentioned her not being there.

His wife isn’t over it.

I called out of work because I was still very sick.

Pretty much the entire day, she was cold to me.

She’s now at least talking to me, but still brings it up to anyone who asks how Halloween went.

AITA?

It sounds like his wife doesn’t understand how sick he really felt.

Let’s read the responses of others on Reddit to this story.

This person makes a valid point.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Short and sensible.

You were sick, not lazy, says this person.

Finally, this comment makes sense, too.

Parenting has no time off.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.