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Classic. By the wonderful Mary Catherine Starr.
P.S. A viral comic about parenting double standards and kids in conversation.
Astronaut Mom Calls Home From Space for the First Time
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I can see how this would rub readers that either don’t have children or are struggling with their parenting partner about sharing caretaking responsibilities. But as a working mother of three with an incredible husband who is an involved stay-at-home dad and a huge supporter of my career, this is HILARIOUS. (To him also, fwiw.)
My husband is absolutely the #1 snack provider and an amazing cook. Yet the kids will still walk past him (in the kitchen!), go downstairs and across the house, and interrupt me in my office to ask me for a snack. I always direct them back to their dad, who is just as confused by this behavior. It’s just the nature of kids!
I totally agree with others that part of what made me laugh is knowing the expression on the dad’s face as he says “I’m sitting right here! While your mom is literally in outer space!!” hahahaha!
100% perfect
This past week my whole family has been sick with strep and I seemed to have had the worst of it. My 4 year old sees me hacking and wincing and this is what followed,
4 year old: Mom, are you ok?
Me: No, honey, mommy is sick but I’m safe
4 year old: You’re sick!
Me: yes
4 year old: Can I have a snack?
Me: …sure…
A couple of weeks ago we all fought off Norovirus 🤮
I was literally wallowing on the bathroom floor in that “please god let me get it all out” hell space, and my 9 year old, who had just recovered from it the day before and knew what it was like, walked in and put his Nintendo Switch in my face and said “Mooohhhhm, will you buy me this video game? It’s rated E and [explanation of game design monologue].”
I said into my forearm braced on the toilet seat, “Bud are you for real right now”
And hr said, “oh. Ooohhhh. Okay. Maybe later”
YEAH BUD, now is not the time
Hah, so true! But kids don’t see gender norms they see nourishment. I try to remember what a meaningful act it is as mothers to feed our children. We do it with our own bodies from the moment of conception and we will never stop. My mother-in-law drops by with my husband’s favorite foods to this day and he’s almost 50. I try to remember what a gift that is as a mother.
Ohh I love this thought! I was just telling my mom the other day, some days I think “well, if nothing else, today I fed my family” and that helps when I feel like I’ve been not my best self / not a great mom.
Hahahahaha. Perfection.
My go to response has become, “go ask your father.”
Does anyone remember the Hillary Swank show, Away? She’s on a work mission to Mars and is (obvi) very far away from family. I was a busy working mom at the time and my first thought was, Was this show conceived as a space show…OR…did a female writer want to tell the story of a working/traveling mom’s struggles and at the brainstorm session it went like, “Japan? Or remote Antartica? No, wait, let’s send her to MARS. That would be hard!”
I was once running a marathon and my husband brought the kids to watch. Tell me why when I passed them my child said “Mommy I’m hungry! When can we eat?” Like listen kid, let me finish these 12 more miles first. Also, your father IS RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.
Oh my gosh. 😂 I feel this in my soul.
Hahahaha. 😂
This might be the best comment I’ve ever read!
NOOOO!
In the pandemic I stuck a sign on the fridge basically saying their father could pour milk too lol
But the marathon is ultimate face palm
This makes me glad my kids are old enough to get their own snacks. Although they are not yet old enough to not leave chip crumbs on the sofa, as I discovered yesterday with some chagrin!
Same here !!! Soon finished. Really good book
LOLOLOL!! SPOT ON!!
This is absolutely my kids, and my eldest is 23! Love it! xxx
Nailed it! Wonderful!
LOL! The other day, my kid got up from playing games with their dad and came into the bathroom during my shower to ask if I could get them a snack — without ever even asking my partner first. agh! um, no, I cannot get you a snack!
Since I work part-time and am around for snack provisions (and generally my household tasks mostly include food-related things), I think that instinct is just so strong to come to me for that need — but my goodness it felt ridiculous in the moment!
But also, not quite funny, since this is 2025 and not 1925…The boy is sitting right next to his dad, who is taking no responsibility for ‘the snack’ but also not taking responsibility for protecting his wife’s feelings and highlighting her accomplishments by not correcting the son. So….This is the type of ‘humor’ I no longer find funny.
It would totally funny IF she was a single mom and her son was sitting with the babysitter or alone. With the dad right there? Mildly rage inducing…
Thank you, my response to most “mom humour” is that it wakes up my radical feminist dragon. I want to belong to the group, but the conventional sisterhood needs some schooling.
I agree with you Hannah. It’s “humor” like this which makes me glad not to have kids. Even if moms see this and feel like they are part of a community or feel like they are “seen,” it’s the fact that this is so common a problem (among many, many, many other and bigger reasons) that has put me off procreation.
Agreed/ Not funny in 2025 when it still applies.
To me that is what is supposed to be funny/not funny about it. No matter how awesome the mom is outside of the home, in many instances kids are not all that impressed with it. No matter what she is doing, they still look to mom to do the “mom” things, even when the dad is right there. Perhaps more than funny its supposed to be relatable to the moms of the world doing it all. Like Kath in the comment above, I can certainly related to it!
Who says it’s not supposed to be rage-inducing? To me, it’s that, AND it’s funny, and it makes me feel less alone.
Um, I think it is 3-second snapshot in time that is a play on how things frequently happen with kids, and not anyone trying to put a woman into a certain role.
I would find the cartoon you described concerning for the child & not funny, & that is ok- we all have different humor.
I did not perceive this to be a man not taking responsibility for his child, but more that kids often ask one grown-up for things.
Thats the point of it …..
Oh, I don’t know. My husband is an amazing father who fully pulls more than half his weight both around the house and with our kids, and they STILL do silly things like seek me out while I’m sitting on the toilet to ask me to open their string cheese, while my husband yells from the kitchen “I’m right heeeeeeerrre!!!” I can’t explain exactly why it happens, I just know that it DOES (and at least in my family, is absolutely no fault of my husband’s!) I think this hilarious and adorable and very relatable.
Hannah, I feel you. Most of the time I can laugh at this and shrug it off as a full-time working mom of two boys and a spouse that works just as hard but there’s always that underlying feeling of “what the actual f?” But we’re not perfect and we’ve definitely perpetuated the stereotype without giving it much thought so my kids know I’m usually the food person, the snacks always prepped person, the dinner person, the leftovers person, the lunch packing person. It’s my thing even though my spouse can do it, i just took it over so I think, many times, they just associate me with that activity. They know their other parent is fully capable they just haven’t yet realized that parent can also be associated with that task. I like to think Astronaut mom maybe is the food person when they’re home?
I think that’s part of the point…
oh I read this so differently! Mary Catherine Starr skewers gender norms and parenting double standards. I saw this as a child seeing his mom as his mom, even though she was doing heroic work. little kids just see Mommy and Daddy in those moments! I bet you’ll love these: https://cupofjo.com/2022/02/07/have-you-seen-this-viral-comic-about-parenting-double-standards/
Joanna, I saw it the same way you did. My husband fully pulls his weight in parenting and still, my kids look to me first for most needs. I feel like she’s poking fun at the gender norms, maybe in an intentionally rage-inducing way. Also, if we’re trying to steer from gender norms, maybe we ought to consider that the male the child is with is the child’s nanny!
I get where you are coming from (I promise I really do!) but also, maybe you just haven’t seen the next thing that happens, which is that the man turns to the kid and points out how great it is that Mom is doing such important work, and we can go have a snack in just a minute when we get off the space phone. This could just be a three-second span of time. ❤️
I work full time and my husband is our family’s “professional parent” full time with our kids. This comic still rang so true to me, just with the gender roles reversed. In our house Dad is the snack guy, and our 3 year old would totally ask him for a snack before me even if he was calling from the moon! It’s funny because it captures the obliviousness of the kid and the relentlesss demands of parenting when they’re little. They need you so much, all the time, and you are still their person no matter what’s going on for you professionally or personally.
I get the interpretation about the patriarchy, but it doesn’t make me mad at the artist! It’s up to all of us to do the work of dismantling patriarchy in our lives and our families, and maybe some day this comic will be equally applicable no matter then genders of any of the parents involved. Kids will still be kids!
These fine points are why I love deep reading the comments. I agree with Hannah and also see the argument that moms are often the go-to EVEN when dad is sitting right there.
The point I think Hannah is trying to make is that it is that very fact, that the dad is not playing any role here other than as a passive lump, that is no longer relevant. On one hand, if your husband is content to allow you to be the go-to, not taking any part in exercising his role and frankly, social responsibility as a male in 2025 to step up and protect his wife from this type of conditioned behavior of relying on the resident female to provide for a developing male’s needs (the son) than he is divorce-able, in my opinion (not necessarily Hannah’s.)..whoa, that escalated, lol.
But I also am so tired of seeing men do nothing to stand up for their wives and actually take a parenting and educational role in not only family dynamics, but male female dynamics as well. I can no longer just let it be in the world as fresh content. Blast from the past? Ok, fine, but fresh off the press, circa 2025? NO.
Agree with some of the frustration. Totally get what this is trying to do, it’s all good, I get it, but just not feeling the humor.
God Bless Them! ❤️🤍💙
What a coincidence! I’m in the middle of listening to the audio version of Orbital by Samantha Harvey. It’s a stunningly gorgeous book that imagines the inner lives and musings of 6 astronauts (4 men and 2 women) aboard a space station orbiting the earth. Most of them have families and children, and they often muse about the surreal feeling of being in th totally unique and exhilarating experience of being in space, but still being so mundanely tethered to earth in the most tender ways. This comic totally gave me a visual of that feeling.
Hahahahahahahaha
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