can of baked beans
Sarah Biren
Sarah Biren
March 4, 2024 ·  5 min read

Dad Slammed After He Forces Hungry Daughter to Starve Until She Opens Tin Can

On January 4, a father took to Twitter to boast about his parenting skills. However, Twitter wasn’t impressed. Nicknamed ‘bean dad’, the father bragged about how he taught his nine-year-old daughter to open a can of baked beans: Either she figures out how to do it herself or she goes hungry. She finally succeeded after six hours. 

Bean dad, who is podcaster and musician John Roderick, called her success “a victory for good parenting.” Twitter did not agree. Accusations of neglect and abuse filled the reply section to his tweets. Others accused him of making up the tale for attention. [1] 

Bean Dad’s Controversial Parenting Story 

Roderick’s series of tweets began when his daughter asked him to prepare baked beans for her. That’s how he realized she had never learned to use a can opener since most cans have pull-tops. Still, he declared that “a teaching moment just dropped into my lap”. Except he didn’t teach her how to use it. He told her to teach herself. 

Bean dad gave her a bit of advice before she began. “I said, ‘this little device is designed to do one thing: open cans. Study the parts, study the can, figure out what the can-opener inventor was thinking when they tried to solve the problem.‘” 

He worked on a jigsaw puzzle while she struggled with the can.

“She was next to me grunting and groaning trying to get the thing. I should say that spatial orientation, process visualization, and order of operation are not things she… intuits. I knew this would be a challenge,” he said. 

As expected, she gave up. She declared she didn’t want baked beans. That’s when bean dad came through with the “Sweetheart, neither of us will eat another bite today until we get into this can of beans.” She screamed and went to read a book to calm down. 

She found success, eventually…

Then she returned to the very dented can. “By now we were working on anger-management and perseverance too,” he continued in his Tweets. “She suggested she open the can with a hammer. There were tears.”  

After a while, she figured out the can but had yet to succeed in puncturing the lid. “We’d been at it for SIX HOURS on and off. We were hungry.”  

He resisted helping her though. He added that “Many times throughout the day, she’d yell at me, ‘My brain is fuzzy! I can think of anything else to try!!’ and I’d say, ‘When your brain doesn’t work, try your hands.’” 

Finally, she managed to open the can on her own after six hours. She was proud of herself and he was proud as well. [2] 

Read: Mom Makes 14-Year-Old Daughter Sleep Outside In The Cold After She Yells At A Homeless Man

Backlash Against Bean Dad 

Many people on Twitter thought his actions were too extreme, even potentially damaging. They believe that bean dad should have just fed her instead of trying to force a lesson. 

A teacher commented, “Kids learn best when they aren’t hungry. Everyone learns differently and different approaches (eg. A guiding hand) are helpful, especially if/when someone’s struggling. When a child is frustrated to the point of tears, you’ve lost your teachable moment.” 

Another person wrote, “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. That’s abusive. She’s 9 years old, and some of us don’t learn very well when we’re hungry, regardless of age. Jeez.” 

However, some people supported Roderick’s story. One wrote, ““This teaches independence and personal growth. He did nothing wrong and in fact made me wish I did more of this.” 

When the hate began, bean dad posted, “Six hours is the length of time between meals. Lunch at noon, dinner at six. They’re literally saying child abuse.” He added that the response was “astonishing. My kid is fine everybody”. Then he deleted his Twitter account. [3] 

The outrage, however, increased as his old tweets with racist jokes resurfaced. 

Bean Dad Apology 

A few days later, he wrote a more detailed statement on his website.  

My story about my daughter and the can of beans was poorly told. I didn’t share how much laughing we were doing, how we had a bowl of pistachios between us all day as we worked on the problem, or that we’d both had a full breakfast together a few hours before.” He added that the mother was present during the whole scenario and laughed along with them.

He explained that he wrote the tweets in his comedic persona of “the asshole dad”, thinking his friends and fans would know not to take it seriously. 

What I didn’t understand when posting that story, was that a lot of the language I used reminded people very viscerally of abuse they’d experienced at the hand of a parent. The idea that I would withhold food from her, or force her to solve a puzzle while she cried, or bind her to the task for hours without a break all were images of child abuse that affected many people very deeply. Rereading my story, I can see what I’d done.” 

He also apologized for being flippant and evasive during the initial backlash.  

Roderick addressed the old racist and hurtful tweets, saying he intended them to sound ironic. He said he had realized these jokes were harmful no matter his intent, which is why he stopped tweeting them. [4] 

This response to bean dad’s apology was mixed. Some people found it genuine. Others considered it just damage control with a “sorry you were offended” edge. [5] What do you think?

Keep Reading: This gay couple’s mindblowing first dance at their wedding shocked their guests

Sources

  1. “Outcry as ‘bean dad’ forces hungry child to open tin can.” BBC. January 4, 2021.
  2. “’Bean dad’ forces 9-year-old daughter to open tin can, slammed for keeping her hungry for 6 hours.” Times Now News. Saumya Agrawal. January 5, 2020. 
  3. “’Bean dad’ apologises after tin can posts cause outcry.” BBC. January 5, 2021. 
  4.  “An Apology.John Roderick. January 5, 2021. 
  5. “’Bean Dad’ John Roderick apologizes for Twitter thread about daughter, racist tweets.” NBC News. Kalhan Rosenblatt. January 5, 2021.