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Twitter Blew Up On A ‘Bean Dad’ Who Wouldn’t Teach His Young Daughter How To Use A Can Opener

The first Sunday of 2021 was not a peaceful on Twitter. People hoping to get some extra rest in before the workweek resumes post-holidays awoke to find a number of issues to steam one’s blood. One was a controversial New York Times op-ed arguing TikToks might finally supplant the album. Another was outgoing president Donald Trump caught on tape actually committing a crime. And, on the lighter side, there was something called “Bean Dad,” which was what was really making people angry.

The story is this: Musician and podcaster John Roderick had posted a lengthy, Seth Abarahamson-sized tweet thread about what he seemed to think was a charming parenting anecdote. The TL;DR version: His nine-year-old daughter wanted a can of beans, and she asked him how to use an old-school, hand-cranked can opener. He refused.

“I said, ‘The little device is designed to do one thing: open cans,” he tweeted. “Study the parts, study the can, figure out what the can-opener inventor was thinking when they tried to solve this problem.” (Again, she’s nine.) He went back to working on a jigsaw puzzle and she eventually figured it out — after six hours, which included her bursting into tears and telling him, ‘I hate you.’”

You can read the epic beginning here.

Roderick clearly thought it was a cute lesson in parenting in the 21st century, when technology has robbed us of the more simple pleasures in life, such as killing our dinner with our bare hands in the woods. Many, however, did not see it that way. Some responses were simple and direct.

Some questioned his reasoning.

Or ID’d what kind of dad he is.

Some wanted to fight him, were such a thing safe nowadays.

Some sort of, but not really, took his side.

Or demonstrated actual parenting.

Or pointed out what he instead actually taught her.

Some pointed out that she is not going to look back on this moment of tough love parenting and virality kindly in the future. Or now.

But surely one day she’ll have her revenge.

And then there were those that worried that “Bean Dad” would get eclipsed by that aforementioned smoking gun Trump tape.