Man accidentally goes viral after making his daughter struggle with a can opener for six hours

As the essential piece of internet scripture goes, “each day on Twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it.”

Since we can’t have just one week of respite, social media has already erupted into discourse over yesterday’s main character. That person is musician John Roderick, who created a lengthy thread about his nine-year-old daughter who wanted to eat some baked beans.

The problem was that his daughter didn’t know how to use a can opener, and instead of opening the can for her, Roderick used the opportunity as a “teaching moment” and left her to figure it out for herself.

Over 23 tweets, the thread chronicles in detail the six hours it took for her to open the can of beans. At one point, he says that his daughter even “collapsed in a frustrated heap”, all while he refused to tell her how to use the tin opener.

“I’d been tempted many times along the way to guide her hand,” he wrote in one tweet. “I wanted her to experience the magnificence of the can opener SO MUCH I couldn’t stand the suspense. Neither of us likes baked beans that much – the cupboards are bare – so it seemed like a paltry reward for this work.”

The thread quickly went viral, with Roderick being dubbed “Bean Dad” as he faced mounting criticism. He has also since deleted his account.

Many pointed out that he simply could’ve just demonstrated how to open a can as a teaching moment.

A few voiced their concerns that this only discourages children from asking for help when they sincerely need it.

Others came to his defence, arguing that they could see what Roderick was trying to achieve by allowing her to figure out the tin opener on her own.

Among his defenders was Jeopardy guest host, Ken Jennings, who co-hosts the podcast Omnibus with Roderick.

But above all, the discourse just opened a bigger can of worms… or memes.

If there’s one lesson to learn, it’s that we should be more like Dionne Warwick, who simply does not care in the slightest.

2021 is already kicking off as weirdly as expected.