Not single dad Maverick Austin, though. When his 11-year-old daughter Avi called him at work concerned she’d pooped her pants at school, he handled it like a total pro.
“I rush to school to take her a change of undies, put the old ones in a bag and rush back to my conference call and threw the bag in the kitchen trash,” he recounted in a now-viral FB post titled ‘Diary of a father and daughter.’
“Few hours later she calls and I had to put a very important work meeting I’m hosting on hold which I never do and she says ‘Dad it happened again…’ I’m confused and very annoyed because I’m super busy. I yell ‘just wipe your butt better then stuff toilet paper in the back of your pants and I’ll have to call you back in an hour!’ and I hang up. A few minutes later it hits me…”
What Avi had thought was poop was actually blood – she’d gotten her first period. Aware of the significance of such a moment, he dropped everything to head back to her school.
“I interrupt my project meeting and explain to my banking colleagues that I’m VERY sorry but I have to go,” he said. “I’m racing to the school while calling them telling the nurse to ‘go find my child!’ Speeding and having a panic attack because my child called me for help and I just ‘left her to die on the battlefield!”
He continued: “I run into the office and she’s standing there very calm looking at me and says, ‘Dad… I officially started my first…’ and I stopped her and said ‘I already know Avi… it hit me a few minutes after I hung up on you. The stress of raising a daughter.”
After Avi hinted that she should ‘get something’ like when your tooth falls out, her dad came up with a genius idea: the period fairy. While the youngster was in the shower, he ducked out to the shops to curate a care package featuring chocolate, ice cream, cookies, flowers and a card that read ‘You’ve got this!’ Cue: tears.
Naturally, the Internet lost it over how darn well Maverick handled such a sensitive situation. The post generated more than 128,000 shares and 199,000 likes in a matter of days.
“Wow, I’m impressed with how amazingly you handled that!! Oh & BTW, I think you might be onto something there with the period fairy!” one person commented.
“The best dad award!! Got her all the good stuff!” added another.