30 Things Dads Probably Can't Get Done In One Weekend

The challenge that's daring dads to do the work of a mother for 48 hours. And still be ready for sex at 10pm.

The Tough Mother is the event that asks fathers to step into their partner's shoes for 48 hours and "swap golf, footy and hardware for housework, home detention and the unpredictable universe of domestic bliss."

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Participants have to act as primary caregiver to their kids for 48 hours, completing 30 obstacles that simulate the range of jobs most mums have to do. Like changing the bed linen...

Tough Mother

Making breakfast...

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Cooking dinner...

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Taking the kids to weekend activities...

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And buying a birthday present for a child's friend... Without caving in to the tantrum and buying your own kid a toy as well.

Vimeo / Alice Morell

Aaaaand writing and posting a letter with pictures from the kids, baking a cake, playing hide and seek, going to the supermarket, cleaning the kitchen, teaching kids a non-sports skill, organising a family event for the future, packing the bags for school the next day, having dinner ready for your partner when she comes home at 7:30pm, and being ready for "one-on-one" time at 10pm.

"Kitchen looks like shit, ummm I'm starving coz it's taken ages to get the kids to bed, haven't fed the fish, and all and all off to an interesting start."

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The challenge was designed by activist and mother Alice Morell, who runs a mothers support website.

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She says the Tough Mother is designed to build empathy for the primary caregiver's role in the family and experience the demands of the 24/7 mum.

"It's a very particular feeling being the primary caregiver," Morell told BuzzFeed News.

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"While dads are contributing much more than they used to, they are very rarely the primary caregiver and that is a job with no money, no acknowledgement and no promotion."

The event has been criticised for being sexist and for playing into gender stereotypes, but Morell insists it's a social issue and not a competition between men and women.

"More than 50% of households in Australia have two parents working but women still do twice as much unpaid work," she said.

Despite widespread media coverage, only 231 fathers have signed up to the challenge this year.

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Morell says there has been some pushback from dads, and that her own husband was initially resistant to the idea.

"He had lots of issues about doing it last year, but we can now draw on those experiences. Even now I can say to him 'You remember how you felt when you had to do this', so if it can get you talking instead of arguing I think it's worth it."

The Tough Mother challenge takes place this weekend, from the 1st - 3rd May.