“Daddy to the Rescue” — Woman Records Husband’s Reaction to Her Pretending to Fall Asleep
"Realizing that he would just wake me up instead," one commenter wrote.
Published May 13 2024, 5:20 p.m. ET
Julie, who runs a couples TikTok account with her husband Corey (@julieandcorey), wanted to see how her husband was going to react to seeing her taking a nap in the middle of the day while he was working from home. So she planted her phone a short distance away and hopped on the couch as her daughter pushed a stroller around the house.
Upon being told by their daughter that Mama was asleep, Corey went out in the living room to see what was going on. His reaction to seeing her take an impromptu midday nap has a lot of people impressed on the popular social media platform.
"Pretending to be asleep while he works from home to see what he does," Julie writes in a text overlay of the video as she sets up the camera in what looks like the couple's living room of their home.
Their daughter can be seen walking around with a toy stroller, which she pushes into her mom's legs, hitting the bottom of her foot. "Ow," Julie says as she lies down on the couch.
"Tell Dada I'm sleeping, OK?" she says to their child as the little girl agrees with a quick "OK."
The clip then transitions to Corey walking out into the living room. He places his hand on Julie's forehead and gently takes her glasses off.
He notices that their daughter is making some noise. He holds his finger up to his lips, making a "shh" sound, which she emulates as well. Corey places the glasses on the arm rest of the couch and then goes to grab a blanket to drape over his partner.
Dad and daughter work together to tuck mom in, and he continues to make the environment more amenable to her nap. He shuts the TV set off and then the video cuts to him playing with their daughter outside. Rocking her helmet, their daughter inches closer to her father on her tiny bicycle.
Julie writes in an overlay, "he took her outside so I can sleep," followed by a cry-happy emoji. During their play session, Dad tries to guide their daughter's bike on the pathway, but she claps back at him pulling it away. "The sass," she writes, with a series of cry-laughing emojis appended to the text.
Their daughter mounts the bike as Dad begins helping her ride and the video ultimately closes out.
Different users had a variety of reactions to Julie's TikTok, including some that seemed like they may've been a bit jealous of the care exhibited by Corey upon seeing his wife was faux-napping.
One person quipped: "I totally will fall asleep while pretending being asleep."
While one TikToker said that they thought the careful removal of spectacles was a pro-level-thoughtful tactic: "As a glasses girly, I love the taking off glasses when I’m too tired to."
But there was someone else who said that taking a nap whenever they wanted to is out of the question while their husband is working: "Anytime I fall asleep my man tells me to wake up bc apparently I can’t take naps."
Julie had a response to that, however: "Tell him it’s scientifically proven that women need more sleep than men."
This seems to be supported by research referenced by The Sleep Foundation which writes: "Women need on average 11 additional minutes of sleep each night."
Piedmont Healthcare also wrote that studies indicate women also require more z's than their male counterparts, but much more than 11 minutes. The outlet quoted medical doctor Nagamalar Raju who said women's brains are more complex than men's due to being "wired differently."
"Women are also multi-taskers, and they do a lot at once. Because they use more of their actual brain, they may need a little bit more sleep than men. It is still debatable, but some experts say that women need 20 more minutes on average than men usually need."
The healthcare facility also said that women who suffer from sleep deprivation can find themselves forced to battle a slew of different potential health risks: "Anyone who suffers from sleep deprivation, or a lack of sleep, can be susceptible to negative health consequences. But a 2008 study by Duke University found that women who reported unhealthy sleep had greater psychological distress than men, elevating their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression and mood disorders."
One user who responded to Julie's video remarked that they couldn't believe she didn't fall asleep on the couch after laying down there: "How did you not actually fall asleep after this though, you look so comfortable."
The TikToker responded that they did take advantage of the content creation tactic: "I went back and took a nap," she wrote.