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Life

14th Sep 2019

Study finds dads spend 7 hours a year in the bathroom – hiding from their families

Trine Jensen-Burke

Raising children is a job that really can take it out of you.

Between the nappy changes and the lunchboxes and the Lego fights and the lost shoes and misplaced Pokemon cards and the never-ending homework battles, being a parent is pretty much synonymous with having little to no me-time.

Or is it…?

It turns out dads are pretty sneaky when it comes to finding ways to get away from it all for a few moments.

Yep, that’s right. While you are busy parenting your heart out, mums, chances are your other half is hiding – in the bathroom.

You read that right, mums. According to a 2018 study, men are pretty good at carving out some me-time – by racking up a whopping seven hours spent hiding in the bathroom – for some ‘peace and quiet.’

Commissioned by Pebble Grey, a bathroom expert, using a poll surveying 1,000 men, researchers in the UK were able to learn that men tuck themselves away in the bathroom for a few reasons that are not only about actually using the bathroom to do their ‘business.’

Among the men in the study, 45 percent claimed that they hardly ever have any ‘me time’. Among these men, a quarter of them stated that their spouse isn’t understanding of how hectic their lives really are. Another 25 percent of men shared that without these occasional bathroom escapes, they wouldn’t “know how they’d cope”, with 23 percent admitting that their restroom was their personal ‘safe place’.

Mainly, the men who confessed to doing this wanted to:

  • Run away from partners who constantly nag them
  • Stay away from house chores or noisy kids
  • Have an opportunity to use their mobile phones in peace

Well, well, well…

Speaking about the study, a spokesman for Pebble Grey remarked, “We all need a little bit of time to ourselves – to take stock or switch off completely.”

So there you have it. Need to find your husband to come help with wrangle the kids into their clothes for the day? Go check the bathroom!