Mom Checks Teen Daughter’s Phone, Stunned How Her Husband’s Number Saved

A mom was left stunned when she discovered how her husband’s name was saved on her daughter’s phone.

In a post on Reddit, u/ContributionNo2796 explained that after borrowing her 13-year-old’s phone to make a call, she noticed that her husband, her daughter’s stepdad, was saved under a simple yet powerful name: dad.

The original poster (OP) wrote on the r/parenting subreddit that her husband entered their lives when her daughter was 5. The two married when her daughter turned 8, but for the next 3 years, the girl primarily lived with her biological father.

Two years ago, the daughter returned to live with her mother and stepfather full time, and the family dynamic slowly began to shift.

“My ex made choices based on pride and anger, not what was best for our child. That could range from blocking my husband and I from [having] as much access to my daughter as he could when she lived with him to not speaking to my daughter when she lives with us,” the 35-year-old told Newsweek.

When the mom saw the contact name, she initially didn’t think much of it. “I knew my daughter referred to my husband as dad to her friends, but I got the impression it was just easier than saying stepdad and explaining her personal life,” she said.

After thinking about it, she realized that the word had more significance than she’d first thought: “Her phone contact labels are for herself and no one else, so it meant more.”

She also told Newsweek that she felt bittersweet emotions when she learned that her daughter, even if she had her biological father’s number saved, had labeled it with his first and last name.

Once she’d seen his name saved as dad, the woman snapped a photo of the contact and sent it to her husband “to brighten his day”, she wrote in her Reddit post.

The mom of three also explained that her daughter can be something of a closed book, but moments like these hint at the growing love and trust in their relationship. “She doesn’t open up a lot, so I feel like this is kind of a clue,” she added.

At the time of writing, the post has received 4,000 upvotes and 175 comments. Many other Reddit users shared their stories of being stepparents, including one who calls himself a “bonus dad of three.”

He wrote that although his stepchildren still call their biological father dad, he raised them and was introduced to other people as their dad a handful of times.

“Personally, I’d say that’s a big win for both you and hubby… especially at your daughter’s age! (13-14 was a ‘Fun’ time with my stepdaughter for me),” he wrote.

“It’s easy to become a father, but dad has to be earned. Nice job,” another commented.

After sharing the story on Reddit, the mom joked about her own contact name in her daughter’s phone. She added to the post, “After reading all the comments, having a few tears and a lot of laughs, I have requested my daughter change my contact name to spawn point and she had a good laugh at that with her friends.”