Viral video of moms’ weekend getaway sparks debate over whether dads need child care backup

A girls’ weekend away has turned into a parenting controversy. A group of moms revealed how many people were looking after their kids while they were away, and the internet was not impressed.

Mom and content creator Lindsey Bosway posted a video asking her friends one simple question: who’s looking after the kids?

“Kara, how many kids do you have?” Bosway asked.

“I have four kids,” Kara responded.

“How are you here? Who’s watching the kids?” Bosway asked.

“My husband, my mom, and one of my kids’ godmothers,” Kara responded.

“Kelly, how many kids do you have?” Bosway asked.

“Two,” Kelly responded.

“And who’s with the kids?” Bosway asked.

“My mom and husband,” Kelly responded.

“Jen, how many kids do you have?” Bosway asked.

“Two kids,” Jen responded.

“Who’s with the kids?” Bosway asked.

“My mom is watching them the days Brad works, and then my husband is watching them over the weekend,” Jen responded.

In total, some households had up to four people helping hold down the fort.

There were a total of eight moms on this trip, and Bosway was the last to be asked the same question:

“Who’s watching your kids this weekend?” she was asked.

“Andrew and two of our lovely sitters,” Bosway responded.

“OK, now we want to know if you’re going on any trips. What does your village look like? How are you doing things to protect your mental health or to, like, do things to fill your cup?” one of the moms asked.

So the internet had thoughts!

“My husband should be the full answer,” one person commented.

Others questioned why dads needed backup at all.

Research highlights gaps in how parents share childcare

So I did some research to help me understand why this video of moms out enjoying a child-free weekend, listing the help they had back home, touched a nerve with so many.

And the numbers suggest there’s a pretty good reason moms might need that extra help. According to a June 2026 Pew Research Center survey among American couples where both parents work full-time. 52% said mom does more of the day-to-day parenting. Just 10% said dad does more. And it’s not just about who remembers the school pickup.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that women living with children under six spend an average of 2.8 hours a day providing primary childcare — compared with 1.7 hours for men.

That’s about an hour’s difference, every day. And the mental load is also real. Pew’s 2023 research found mothers were much more likely than fathers to say they handled the organization of children’s schedules and activities.

Parenting expert Gen Muir said we need to look beyond blaming individual parents, saying: “This is not a fault of men not being involved as much as a system that is not supporting parents to do this most important job, which is raising our children in the first five years.”

We don’t need to hand out medals to mothers for doing absolutely everything themselves. Because there’s no prize for burnout, no trophy for exhaustion, and certainly no parenting gold star for refusing help.

A village should support parents, not replace an unwilling parent.

Having a capable partner doesn’t mean you can’t also have a helpful grandmother, babysitter or sister.

Many people say it takes a village to raise a child, and maybe sometimes, it takes a village to give mum a weekend off.

Read more of Katrina Guischard’s stories here.

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