Can the dad take over mom’s role?

MANILA, Philippines - It’s a common perception that we men are seemingly suffused with in-born bravado and tendency (temerity?) to declare ourselves lords of the earth and all that we survey. Oh, yeah? Let’s see you get your better half’s permission to say that line.

Seriously, the premise behind Lifetime’s new show — and first Asian production — Mom’s Time Out is pretty obvious: Men are all thumbs at home. That’s a sweeping generalization of course, but it’s easy to see the underlying wisdom. Touts a Lifetime release: “What happens when the woman in the household disappears and the man takes over?” 

Well, that’s exactly what viewers should witness in the Asia-specific series that is another “social experiment” of a reality series. Lifetime sends three moms on an all-expenses-paid, five-day getaway. No thing as a free lunch, you say? In the case of these mothers, their vacations are veritably paid for by their husbands — who are now tasked to hold the fort (and mind the kid/s) while their queens are away.

The routines of three couples from Singapore, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur are rudely interrupted and come under close scrutiny — promising some compelling TV that is educational as well in an age of blurring gender roles and parental responsibilities even in usually traditional Asia.

The featured Filipinos, Kenneth and Emerald Bailey, have a two-and-half-year-old daughter in Briah (or Briley). Kenneth works at a call center and is the sole breadwinner — working nights since the birth of his daughter. The Baileys recently responded exclusively to e-mailed questions from The Philippine STAR.

Kenneth admitted feeling “a little hesitation” before they signed up for the show. Meanwhile, Emerald observed: “I think our family dynamic is unique. While Kenneth is the reserved type, I am the loud one. And Briah is a mix of both our personalities. I am not saying that we are a perfect family, but we are proud to say that we have raised Briley on our own. And that she can grow up to be a very talented kid — quite advanced for her age.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Emerald regarded Kenneth’s night shift as an ideal. “We feel that we are able to spend more time with each other, rather than him having a day shift. Kenneth can still manage to do morning routines with Briah and send her to school. All he needs to do is sacrifice some hours of sleep,” she said.

This mindset might be explained by the fact that Emerald herself used to work in the same call center industry. Actually, she continued: “That is where our love story began.”

The couple admitted to being open-minded about rearing their kid. “We still work on each other’s weaknesses and keep on developing each other’s strengths,” shared Kenneth. “We research and adopt different parenting styles from some friends and from books because we want nothing but the best for Briley.”

The two had previously worked nights at the same time even after Briah’s arrival, so they hired a part-time yaya who took care of their baby at night. “She’d come around 10 p.m. before we left for work,” explained Emerald. “She’d leave at 8 a.m. the next day. It’s really hard to leave your baby with a nanny, but we were left with no choice. I was confident that I trained that nanny well and trained Briley to sleep at night as early as two months old, so we had less to worry about. When Briah turned one, it was also the same time that we had finished paying for the car, so we both decided that I could stop working and take care of Briah full time.”

He had doubted his ability to survive Mom’s Time Out, but Kenneth said came out of it a lot wiser. “I learned new things about Briley, my wife, me — and our family as a whole… I learned the importance of being firm when it comes to disciplining her. My wife and I always argue about that a lot, but now I fully understand why — because of how soft I am towards Briley, it turned out I couldn’t make her follow my instructions.”

Surely, Mom’s Time Out promises not just a dose of comedy and drama, but an eye-opening smorgasbord of life lessons for families old and new, and t0 be in a contemporary world that is changing as fast as you could say: “Help, Mom!”

Averred director of production for A+E Networks Asia Chris Humphrey: “We knew that this was going to be a major learning experience for all parties involved. What we didn’t know was how Asian parents would respond to sharing their family life with us on television. In the end, we saw that the kind of families that were willing to take part in this show had a very strong core family bond, and were up for making that even stronger. Being on TV didn’t matter. It turned out to be a very positive experience, with the families being not only genuine but openly emotional.”

Even as mommies everywhere will nod their heads in assent and clap for Mom’s Time Out, fathers should also tune in to learn just how hard it is to run a household — if they didn’t know that already.

Mom’s Time Out premieres tonight at 9 on Lifetime.