‘Teaching my son basic skills so he won’t expect a woman to do it for him’

Meet the genius mum leading the "No Dusty Sons" movement, raising boys who share the mental and physical load of caring for a family. 

Payal is taking TikTok by storm, but it’s not for her beautifully-organised pantry, or for hacks to get any stain out of any garment.

This mum-of-two boys is taking a stand against dusty sons.

What’s a dusty son, you ask? You might be the wife of one… you might even be unintentionally raising one.

A dusty son is a boy or man who expects a woman to do everything for him, and Payal is having none of it.

Her viral series, “No Dusty Sons”, is made up of short clips of Payal including her boys in the tasks she does every day as a woman and a mum.

The aim is twofold: she’s making her children aware of her mental and physical load as a woman in a family, and she’s teaching them to help so they’ll be good partners and good fathers.

After all, running a household and raising a family should be a team endeavour, not a one-person show. 

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Mum leads no dusty sons movement

“Teaching my son to pack the bags for our day trip so it’s not your daughter’s mental load every time they leave the house,” she captioned one video.

The clip shows Payal and her son packing an esky bag with drinks and snacks for a day out.

The video hits hard. Think of all the hours you’ve spent rushing around of a morning, preparing enough food for everyone for the day.

I imagine myself every time I have to go anywhere with my family, putting yoghurt and cut fruit into containers, portioning out biscuits, carrot sticks and grape tomatoes, slamming coffee as I stand at the kitchen bench. I’m still in my pyjamas because self-care comes last… and seeing Payal’s video I realise I’m 12 years into parenting and it never even occurred to me to ask my three boys to help.

“Dusty do nothing? Not him,” is the title of the video.

Payal is raising boys who will share the load equally with their partners. Photo: TikTok

In another video, she shows herself organising the pantry with her little boy.

“Teaching my son to organise the pantry so no one has to stop what they are doing every time he’s looking for something that’s right in front of his face,” reads the caption.

Each video concludes with Payal turning her face to the camera and giving a hard stare. 

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Every video ends with a hard stare. Photo: TikTok

Mums praise no dusty sons movement

The comments are hilarious.

“Are these videos for your mother-in-law?” one person asks.

“Staring directly into the souls of mothers in law,” says another.

“I wonder if the husbands watching these are like, ‘Ummm excuse me, is this about me?’”

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Some comments summed up how every mother watching Payal’s videos feels.

“What a hero. All boy mums need to do this… we tired,” one person said.

“You ma’am are doing the lord’s work,” said another.

Originally published as ‘Teaching my son basic skills so he won’t expect a woman to do it for him’