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‘My husband’s man flu request is the most ridiculous thing ever’

Just when this mum thought living with her sick husband couldn’t get any more painful, he dropped this insane demand.

Influenza: The facts

For centuries, men have claimed they are the dominant gender.

From world leadership to pure biology, their insistence as the stronger sex cannot be escaped.

Well, that is until they get sick.

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The dreaded man flu

Real or urban legend, nothing triggers a woman like living with someone who has the man flu.

Cassie, who lives with her boyfriend, lamented to Kidspot, “My partner acts like lifting a finger might cause his head to fall off when he has a common cold. 

“Meanwhile, I've been sick for a few days with some sort of bacterial infection, and he thinks I'm perfectly fine to make dinner still and go grocery shopping.” 

She jokingly added, “Can I start self-diagnosing with man flu to get my feet massaged?”

“It's the same flu women get. Just a men's soft ass version of an approach” grumbled a woman who has had the flu before and is now out of a 2-week nursing fest of a man with the flu who refused to go to the doctor for it but still complained he was dying for 14 days, who also goes by Linda.

But John, a dad of two, was quick to remind us of the numerous studies that have proven that man flu does exist.

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‘The most ridiculous thing ever’

A mum has recently taken to the parenting thread on Reddit to vent a recent frustration with her hubby, who was battling a case of man flu.

“My husband and I have an 11-month-old and we both parent equally,” she wrote. 

“Yesterday evening, my husband started to feel sick, and this is really the first time he has gotten sick since our son was born and he’s never really taken being sick well in the first place,” she added.

“So I did the entire night routine, and for some reason, our son was up until 2 a.m. and then got up again at 5 a.m., so we just let my husband sleep and went to the living room.

“I did the morning routine, and my husband came down at 11…and told me we need to hire a nanny while he’s sick because he can’t help me with our son until he’s better.”

She told her husband that was ridiculous and that “people don’t do that,” and she was really taken aback.

“He said yes, they do what they do when they are sick and have to take care of a child.

She wrote, “He actually believes that people hire Nannies to take care of their children when they are sick.”

She closed the post with this PS, “I had a C-section, then came home and cared for a newborn. 

“When my newborn was 4 weeks old, I needed emergency bowel surgery due to a bowel obstruction that was septic and had an open wound for 3 weeks, again all well caring for a newborn.

And her husband has the stomach flu.

The only thing worse than the flu, is living with someone with man flu! Source: iStock
The only thing worse than the flu, is living with someone with man flu! Source: iStock

“Is he a Kardashian?”

The comments section lit up faster than a chain smoker after a long-haul flight, amassing over 300 comments and counting.

“Is he a Kardashian?” jested one.

“I would feel like an asshole hiring someone to come over to my house and likely get sick– ‘Hey, my whole family has the flu...want to come and spend 8 hours a day here for minimum wage?’” added another.

“Does Ms. Rachel count as a nanny? If not, no. It's just us trying our best, feeding the kids pizza and letting them watch TV until we are functional enough to try to parent,” joked another.

Another wrote, “Welcome to Parenthood, where sick days are a thing of the past. Suck it up, buttercup.”

To which the mum replied, “Oh, he got so offended when I told him that when parents are sick, they just parent the best they can sick and that parenting doesn’t just stop happening.”

No days off

Unfortunately, this dad has learned that while taking on the job as a parent has some incredible perks, it’s a pretty tough gig, too.

You work crazy hours for no pay (it actually costs you!), and you’re not given holidays or sick days off.

So, while in the imaginary world, he has potentially conjured up for himself, dosed up on stomach flu meds seems legitimate, let’s hope it acts as a lesson in the tough slog many mums pick up without even a complaint.

Originally published as ‘My husband’s man flu request is the most ridiculous thing ever’

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/my-husbands-man-flu-request-is-the-most-ridiculous-thing-ever/news-story/186b94a71723a76465f4931a6e598b0c