Saturday night, FiveThirtyEight tweeted a graphic showing the difference in the number of minutes moms and dads spend performing parenting tasks daily. It's not surprising that moms invest more minutes a day in parenting, but what surprised Twitter users was the characterization of that time.
Every day, your mom wasted 90 minutes of her life on you, so today get her a present. https://t.co/vJySjeFix0 pic.twitter.com/Z8QQjYRUyt
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) May 14, 2017
Wasted?
I have never heard a mother characterize time with her children as "wasted" time. Perhaps the use of that term was a joke by a social media intern trying to drum up weekend traffic? Nope. The tweet is the headline of the article, written by a woman, and the conclusion uses "wasted" as well:
All in all, your mom wasted a pretty big part of her average day on you: 90 minutes and 6.1 seconds to be precise.
FiveThirtyEight botched that title in a big way (just like their 2016 presidential election prediction).
Not only were people taken aback by the use of "wasted" - they believe the 90 minute number is a very low estimate. The hundreds of replies to the tweet almost universally took FiveThirtyEight to task.
@FiveThirtyEight By using the word "wasted", you dishonor mothers today.
— Dean Thornton (@ironskeleton) May 14, 2017
Many quickly substituted "invested" for wasted."
@FiveThirtyEight Invested 90 minutes of her life in you ?? https://t.co/L0ltDK0Jz6
— deb4liberty (@deb4liberty) May 14, 2017
Some saw it as an extension of the way liberals view "choice."
@FiveThirtyEight So in womb children are clumps of cells and out of womb they are a waste of time. No wonder the left has so much self hate.
— Hugh Akston (@Right_Academics) May 14, 2017
Because many feminists don't value a woman's choice to stay home and invest years in raising children.
@FiveThirtyEight So my choice to stay home for 5 years while my sons are young is, by extension, a colossal waste of time. Good to know.
— K8t (@KECS13) May 14, 2017
But hey, that investment can really pay off.@FiveThirtyEight thinks motherhood is a waste of time?!? Make sure to thanks yours tomorrow anyway! #MothersDay2017 https://t.co/6zthmMG9pY
— Bill Smalley (@Bill_Smalley) May 14, 2017
But I became a doctor, so she's got that going for her. https://t.co/9K0liLwKAT
— Arie Friedman, MD (@ArieFriedman) May 14, 2017
I couldn't let it go without bragging about my kids. My oldest:
Raising this Eagle Scout, athlete, college graduate at 18 (BS Business Economics, Campbell U)... not a waste @FiveThirtyEight pic.twitter.com/HQrYh6TanI
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) May 14, 2017
Middle:
Raising this missionary, Eagle Scout... not a waste @FiveThirtyEight pic.twitter.com/Aeez22XnH1
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) May 14, 2017
And the one I waited years for.
The hours I've spent over the past 23 years raising them (four more years to go) haven't always been filled with joy. There have been hours filled with worry, heartache and exhaustion in there too. Then comes the reward - the moments (the small ones you learn to recognize and savor after years of investing) where you look at your children and are filled with gratitude and humbled by the opportunity you've been given to mother them and play a small part in molding the future.My "baby" who will be 14 next week...every minute spent with him is an investment in the future. Not a waste. @FiveThirtyEight pic.twitter.com/ccyjx04gQg
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) May 14, 2017
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