Husband slammed online after using nanny cam to spy on wife

There's no question that parenting is hard work, no matter which way you navigate it.

Whether you're a working parent, a stay at home, or teetering on a tightrope somewhere in between; some days just get the better of you.

So when a man took to Reddit to share that he was checking in on his wife via the family nanny cam, it was hardly surprising that the internet went off on him.

Taking to the social media platform, the man explained that the couple got nanny cams to keep an eye on babysitters "just in case" and would occasionally check on the dogs with them.

However, the man claims he happened to log on to the nanny cam app at work and was shocked when he saw the live feed of his wife and kids at home in their living room.

"In the feed, my wife was on her tablet with noise-cancelling headphones when the boys were playing kind of rough with each other ... she was just ignoring it."

He then went on to look through other recorded footage and saw more of the same behaviour from his spouse and children.

"Every time, she had her headphones on and was practically ignoring the kids."

However the man said he wasn't angry, he was instead just worried about her.

"She looked really checked-out and that was absolutely unlike her."

He went on to explain that he also asked her if anything was going on.

"She got upset with me for looking through a week of videos ... she said I should have told her and not watched, I told her I wanted to talk about how she was doing, what was up and she just shut down."

He explained in his post that her behaviour was completely unusual, especially when others are around.

"It's like a switch seems to flip when she's alone with the kids versus when she knows someone is watching ... she's so attentive and present when we're doing stuff as a family or with family friends around, but it looked like she was 100 per cent checked-out when she thought nobody would see."

While most responses were that of outrage, others argued that the man had a right to check-in: "They're your children and you have the right to worry about them, and her."

However others were not so complimentary: "Stop spying on your wife and give her some damn breathing room," one added. "The noise-cancelling headphones have to go, but you need to adjust your expectations so your wife doesn't burn out."

Others suggested maybe the man should spend a day in his wife's shoes: "You could learn a thing or two from your wife. Instead of armchair parenting from the comfort of your computer at work, roll up your sleeves and actually parent because it is your job and not as a 'favour' to her, you self-righteous spectator ... I vote mum gets a hotel room for the week and watches you on the cameras all day."

This article was first published on the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.