Parenting will make you do things you never thought you would do. Just ask this dad who made a video dancing to "Single Ladies" with his daughters and has now gone viral. I mean, it's one thing to have a dance party, but it's an entirely different thing to have a dance party in a leotard. Michigan dad Steve Haddad might have won Christmas this year, by gifting his daughters the honor of teaching him the choreography to Beyoncé's classic jam after they reportedly begged him to for their annual family lip sync contest.
His wife, Tina Spadaro Haddad, posted the video on Facebook with the caption, "You asked you received......Haddad Lip Sync contest. Stay back girls he’s all mine!! #BESTDAD #Beyonce #allthesingleladies #christmaslipsync." It's been viewed almost 15 million times. She told Scary Mommy:
The girls were trying to come up with a brilliant idea to beat the competition which in this family it’s tough. I threw out the Beyoncé single ladies video. The girls BEGGED him and because he loves to make us laugh, through much nagging on our part he agreed.
Getting a guy to put on nude tights is never an easy job, so I really appreciate their effort.
Seriously, Try Not To Smile While Watching This
Spadaro Haddad added in her Scary Mommy interview:
I’ve NEVER posted videos or photos of my kids public. I only did it so the family could share it with their friends. [I’m] overwhelmed. I’ve received so many positive messages from people who have had hard knocks and said thank you for the two minutes of laughter.
People Really Do Love It
One family friend asked, "Does it weird Steve out that 27+ thousand people have seen him dance in a leotard?" Tina responded, "Lol he keeps saying 'I wish you wouldn’t of done that' lol," which is a very, very reasonable way to feel.
What's super refreshing about most of the responses to the video is that while everyone agrees he gets the "Dad of the Year" award (and really, he totally does) no one is lauding him for playing with his daughters in the first place. Far too often, dads are given extra praise for parenting their kids while moms are criticized for quite possibly literally every single thing they do.
Research suggests that in most households, the woman still does the majority of the housework and child rearing, even when both parents have exactly the same job. But that doesn't mean that men aren't expected to be in their children's lives in equal measure.
A survey from TODAY found that about two thirds of men are offended by how little respect they get from society when it comes to their parenting. Like "surprise" from people when they're spotted out with the baby in the grocery store or pulling a car pool shift.
About 70 percent of the dads they surveyed said that they, too, struggle with finding a comfortable home and work balance. They also don't think that their employers give them enough parental leave or leeway in their jobs to be ever present at home. Women know all about that feeling, right?
Almost all of the dads self identify as a "father" and not a child care provider," even though about 60 percent of them have been out in public and had someone congratulate them for babysitting their very own kid when they go out alone. So much like you wouldn't want to reinforce that stereotype, it's nice to see people responding to this amazing dancing father with LOLs and not high fives for just hanging out with his kids.
Because as Tony Haddad proves in that leotard, both moms and dads can do it all. Excuse me while I go watch it again on repeat.
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