Creative Dad Goes All Out To Teach Nonchalant Teen How Hard Parenthood Is After He Gets Girlfriend Pregnant

The dad shared his story in a post on Reddit and admitted that he knew his son was not responsible enough to have a baby when the teen told him he was adamant that he and his girlfriend will be keeping the child.

"According to him, having a child is 'easy' and not 'really that hard,'" the dad added. "We tried to persuade him to look at other options, but he was adamant that they were going to have the kid and that was the end of that."

Since the prickly conversation, his son immediately shuts down any talk of his future baby, which is when the dad decided to take things into his own hands. "I have decided to teach him that kids are more difficult than he initially thinks," he wrote.

The dad has a multistep plan to get his son to realize the realities of having a baby, including waking him up twice a night screaming, forcing him to change a bag of flour's "diaper" every two hours, making him to play with his "baby," and not allowing him to go to the movies or see his friends without the sack of flour.

"I wake him up twice a night, 2 hours apart after he has fallen asleep. I open the door, scream as loud as I can until I know he is awake, and I shut the door. I've done this 5 nights in a row," he wrote. "While playing one of his games, I told him his "baby" wanted to be held. Giving me a truly shit-eating grin, he told me he has no issue playing his game and holding the baby. I placed the sack of flour in his arms and he continued to play basically one handed. While he was doing this, I went to the kitchen, grabbed a small cup of applesauce and splashed it on his shoulder while he was playing. I told him that his baby spit up and he might want to pause his game to take care of that."

When it comes to diaper duty, the dad shuts off the Internet if his son doesn't change the diaper he put on a sack of flour every two hours. Sometimes he adds smeared Nutella to the diaper for an added touch.

He also hasn't let him go to the movies or hang out with his friends at their houses. "When he presses me for a reason, I tell him 'You don't have a babysitter. You can go if you take your sack of flour with you.' He has not gone anywhere in a week," he wrote. "Yesterday, I did my best pratfall in front of his friends who were over and then wailed and cried until he came over and started talking to me," the dad continued. "I told him babies demand attention, and he will have to get used to this. This was the last straw for him."

After his son's friends left, the boy accused his dad of acting like an exaggerating jerk who was being "completely unrealistic" with what it's like to care for a baby. "I reminded him that he himself was an incredibly fussy baby, and everything I have done so far he has done to me in the past," the dad wrote. But mom isn't completely onboard with dad's plan and thinks their son needs to make his own mistakes. But the dad is undeterred. 

"I don't want my 17-year-old shackled to a baby when neither of them are ready for this," he continued. "If anything, I want him to realize how hard this is going to be, and to at least look at options."

So the dad wanted to know, did he go too far or is he showing his son the brutal truth?

"In all seriousness though, yes it's a tad ridiculous what you're doing," one person wrote in the comments. "But, it's realistic. It's proportionately appropriate to what your son is going to have to deal with. There are so many people who get all over the moon excited when their teenage children get pregnant, and frankly I find it repulsive that we encourage that. I think you're doing the right thing."

"Dude this is the best parenting I've heard of in long time," another person wrote. "Also he should know that even though you change a diaper, fed the kid, talk to it sometimes they're gonna keep on crying."

And a third person saw that the dad only was going to the extreme because he was concerned. "You aren't doing these things to torture your son, you're doing it out of love," the user wrote.

The reality is that the teen probably has less power in his situation than his girlfriend does. "Yea, I think [Original Poster] is glossing over the fact that the damage is already done," one person wrote. "She's pregnant and wants to keep it. The son needs a reality check but he'll get it either way once the baby is born. I'm not sure what the end goal is (it's too late to not get someone pregnant), but hopefully the son steps up and acts as a good parent."

Another person agreed: The damage has been done. "It's too late about making an 'informed decision.' The girl is pregnant and if she chooses not to get an abortion, he has to step in and do his part no matter what, whether it be raising the kid with his girlfriend or paying child support."

"It’s a cute way to give him small taste of parenthood (all the parents here are thinking he got about a 5 percent intensity preview), but I think it’s more important to have conversations with the girl and her family," someone else chimed in. "Even if you manage to change his mind he still doesn’t have final say. (And please don’t gang up on this girl and start pressuring her to do something she’s uncomfortable with)."

Later in the thread the dad explained that his son is "happy" about the pregnancy and his girlfriend is "anxious." 

"I have talked with the GF about other options that are available and she is receptive, but she herself has said she could never do those if my son was against it," he wrote.

"If my son sat down, looked at the options available, knew the cost of what he was doing, and still decided to do it, then I would be less (expletive)," he continued. "But instead, he wants to bury his head in the sand and not realize the huge decision he is nonchalantly making."