'Bean Dad' under fire for making his daughter 'learn to use a can opener' before she could eat

If you woke up this morning, saw that 'Bean Dad' was trending on social media and were immediately confused, then don't worry - we've got you.

In a (now deleted) Twitter thread, so long it could rival War and Peace, musician and podcaster John Roderick described his response when his nine-year-old daughter asked him or something to eat. The dad decided to challenge his daughter, telling her to work out how to use a manual can opener and in order to have some baked beans rather than just, you know, helping her.

Praising himself for his "apocalypse" style of parenting, the "teaching moment" resulted in his daughter struggling (while hungry) for six hours trying to work out how to use the kitchen device, while he worked on a jigsaw puzzle. Twitter users called him out for his behaviour, labelling it "abusive".

"Yesterday, my daughter (nine) was hungry and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder, 'make some baked beans'," Roderick started the 23-tweet long thread. "She said 'how?' like all kids do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, 'open a can and put it in a pot'. She brought me the can and said 'open it how?'"

Roderick's Twitter thread part one. Photo: Twitter: @ManiacalV

He then went on to say he talked her through all the mechanisms of the kitchen tool, explaining how it works to her instead of physically showing her because he believed it was a great moment for her to learn something new.

"I knew this would be a challenge," he admitted. "But it was a rainy weekend."

When the young girl told him she couldn't figure out how it worked, he declared:  "no one in the house would eat another bite until she gets into the can of beans".

He continued to describe in detail how she was using the can opener incorrectly, saying that by now "there were tears," "she hated him," "the can was dented," and the kicker:  "neither of us likes baked beans that much".

"I'd been tempted many times along the way to guide her hand," the can-enthusiast said. "I wanted her to experience the magnificence of the can opener SO MUCH I couldn't stand the suspense."  

In maybe the first victory for 2021, the girl eventually opened the can of beans - after six hours - with the dad saying that now she "want's to open every f---ing can in the house."

But Twitter is not happy with the saga.

"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," one person wrote. "That's abusive. She's nine years old, and some of us don't learn very well when we're hungry, regardless of age. Jeez."

Although the Roderick's account has since been deleted, Bean Dad is trending on Twitter with people very vocal about his actions.

Check out some of the responses below: