Father was ‘a little disappointed’ that he didn’t get any compliments from strangers while grocery shopping with his kids

As a father of three children under the age of five, Jason was used to strangers complimenting him when he performed mundane tasks, like taking care of his children in public for five minutes.

“What no one tells you about fatherhood,” Jason said, “is that it’s a huge ego boost. I mean, all I have to do is walk out of the house with my kids and there’s someone waiting for me to praise me for being an involved father. It’s almost creepy. Like, one day I went to get the mail with my son and a lady waiting at the bottom of the driveway called me ‘Super Dad.’ I barely had pants on. It’s so awesome!”

Unfortunately, years of such societal conditioning left Jason with a huge disappointment when he went grocery shopping with his three children last week and received not a single congratulations from his fellow shoppers.

“I have to say I was a little disappointed,” Jason said when asked for comment after the 10-minute shopping trip, during which he had for some reason purchased a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread and five packs of M&Ms.

“I mean, I did everything. I put the kids in the car, drove to the store, got them out of the car, put two of them in the shopping cart while the third walked, and we all wandered around the store for a few minutes. You’d think after all that, there would be at least one person who would praise me for being a model of fatherhood and manliness that all other men should aspire to. It’s really the least they could do.”

Despite his disappointment, Jason promised he would remain an involved father.

“This experience has been tough, but I’m not going to stop trying to earn the praise of strangers,” Jason said. “I think I need to up my dad game even more. I think I’m going to take all the kids to the mall today. If someone doesn’t praise me for my bravery while we’re there or at least put me in the New York Timesthen maybe I should just give up.”