Photo: TikTok
He wouldn't interrupt his free time.
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Feb 11, 2023
Women are the primary caregivers for their kids a staggering 71% of the time.
That, in addition to working, running a household, and sometimes catering to the needs of our partners can be extremely exhausting.
A mother named Katrina Grillo recently shared a TikTok video detailing what happened when she tried to take a much-needed day off.
She first explains that she is supposed to have the day off from parenting, free to do whatever it is that she wants to without the burden of worrying about her kids.
The day started with Grillo taking herself out to breakfast.
She planned on going to the spa later in the day, presumably for a massage and some self-care but she made the unfortunate mistake of stopping by her house on her way to the spa.
The caring mom was forced to cut her day-off short before it even began
Grillo tells viewers that after she ate and before she headed to the spa, she decided to swing by her house where her husband was minding the children.
Her intention was simply to grab a few things to take with her.
When she arrived, however, it was apparent that daddy did not have things under control.
The pair share a one-year-old and he had somehow snuck into the linen closet and decided to slather himself in Vicks VapoRub.
It was unclear if he had ingested any of the product or not.
Grillo thought her husband could handle the situation.
The tired mom gathered her things and headed to the spa as planned, after advising her husband to call the pediatrician.
That call resulted in a recommendation that the overwhelmed dad call Poison Control.
From there, he was directed to take the toddler to the emergency room for examination.
He called his wife and updated her but assured her that he could take care of the situation on his own.
Grillo then said, “Two minutes later he calls me back and tells me the four-year-old has locked him out of the house.”
The video ended there, and we can hardly shame Grillo's husband for wanting to keep her in the loop about a potential emergency situation but the feedback from viewers was swift.
The first person posted, “Why is it so common for the other parent to just not parent as well?”
That was the gist of the comments with many mothers’ agreeing that should they take a "day off," they too would come back to utter turmoil.
People were clamoring for an update, so Grillo posted another video.
In the update video, Grillo addressed concerns that the VapoRub had not been stored in a safe place.
She started by letting TikTokers know that her son was okay.
She added, “We knew that he had opened the linen closet, but anything like medicine or anything that would be dangerous is way up above where he could reach. We also didn’t think he could open a screw-top jar. That was new to us.”
The TikToker goes on to say that it didn’t appear that the little boy had eaten any of the toxic substances.
At the emergency room, he was observed and provided with a snack and drink — he had no obvious indications he had consumed it.
People were also wondering if she cut her day of relaxation short and returned home.
Grillo said she had not, justifying that her husband would not interrupt a day of snowboarding for something so trivial, so neither should she.
Grillo did ask her husband why he wasn’t supervising the child and he shockingly said, “He was being quiet, so I figured everything was fine.”
She ended the video by asking herself, “Why?”
Like every other mother, she knows that the time to be most concerned is when your kids are quiet.
While Grillo's videos certainly kicked off quite the debate about fathers and their tendency to rely on their partners to care for their kids, it's clear this mom still knows when to prioritize her relaxation and her husband did the right thing by keeping her in the loop
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.