This Dad Made His Daughter Try To Open A Can Of Beans On Her Own For 6 Hours And Twitter Is Furious
For anyone who spends any time on Twitter, you know that every so often there's a thread that goes viral for the wrong reasons. People on the internet love to weigh in on others' lives when they have seemingly unfiltered access to them; so goes the story of "Bean Dad," a father who went insanely viral this past weekend after sharing how he wouldn't teach his child how to use a can opener.
John Roderick, a musician and podcast host, posted a series of tweets on January 2 that described the moment his nine-year-old daughter was hungry and asked if she could eat a can of baked beans. His Twitter account, @johnroderick, is now deleted, but the series of tweets were screenshotted and reposted by a number of other users.
In case you missed Bean Dad aka john roderick before he deleted his Twitter account, this is what started it all. pic.twitter.com/KCKRP3099c
— ManiacalV (ColinT) (@ManiacalV) January 3, 2021
In the controversial thread, Roderick said instead of helping his daughter use the can opener when she was hungry, he instead looked at this interaction as a "teaching moment." He then continued: "I said, 'The little device is designed to do one thing: open cans. Study the parts, study the the can, figure out what the can-opener inventor was thinking when they tried to solve this problem.'"
Roderick wrote in the 25-part Twitter thread that his daughter finally figured out how to open the beans after six hours and quite a few instances of crying and frustration. It's no surprise that these posts caused a lot of controversy, and terms like "She's 9," "Bean Dad," and "SIX HOURS" trended all day on Twitter on January 3 with many people saying that rather than being a "teaching moment," the behavior was actually just bad parenting.
The Bean Dad story is ridiculous. He should have just FED her, and THEN showed her how to use a damn can opener instead of leaving her hungry for six hours. That's abusive.
She's 9 years old, and some of us don't learn very well when we're hungry, regardless of age. Jeez.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) January 3, 2021
"He should have just FED her, and THEN showed her how to use a damn can opener instead of leaving her hungry for six hours. That's abusive," one user wrote. Others chimed in and said that a teachable moment would have come from showing the daughter how to use the can opener, and then explaining how it worked.
Six minutes. You get six minutes, not six hours. And remember the acronym HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, tired); those are not the times to be teaching. No belittling allowed. Encourage independent problem solving, but for your kid's sake at least tell them warm or cold.
— Kristin Rogersdotter (@KRogersdotter) January 3, 2021
Still, some fans of his podcast "Omnibus," which he hosts with Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame, came to his defense claiming those who are fans of his previous work understand his unique satirical voice. Jennings himself tweeted in Roderick's defense calling his podcast co-host a "loving and attentive dad."
If this reassures anyone, I personally know John to be (a) a loving and attentive dad who (b) tells heightened-for-effect stories about his own irascibility on like ten podcasts a week. This site is so dumb.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 3, 2021
At the time of publication, John Roderick's Twitter and Instagram accounts have been deleted.
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