Always.

My personal favorites:

"No habla old biddy."
"How about a nice game of hide and go f#ck yourself?"
"Nope. Looking to trade this in for some magic beans."
"I'm sorry, shouldn't you be at the BINGO hall?"
sniff, sniff "You smell that? It smells like mind your own business."
"Are you coming on to me?"
"Do you think we can go out back and you can make a man of me?"
Start singing "If I Only Had A Brain"
"You're prettier than my last victim."
"If I buy you a Hover-round, will you go see the Grand Canyon?"
"Yeah, my husband is working." (I live in the heart of the bible belt.)
"Have you accepted Satan as your lord and savior?" (See above explanation.)

I have a crap-ton more where that came from.
-Will
gamingwithbaby.com | all your diapers are belong to us
my flickr

Would a woman ever, in public, look at another woman and ask her condescendingly if she was "babysitting today?"

-Will
gamingwithbaby.com | all your diapers are belong to us
my flickr

I've very rarely been asked this question, but the few times I have I've simply explained that I'm a SAHD. Every time I've gotten the response Josh was talking about above, the "Wow, that's great!" I've especially gotten this from the older women who often follow that with "I don't think my husband could ever have done that." This usually gives both of us a little laugh. I guess when I'm asked if I'm "babysitting" I choose to kill them with kindness. Although I can be very sarcastic and snarky, just ask my friends and family...on second thought, don't ask ;) ...when it comes to strangers who don't know me or my sense of humor, I feel it's always better to educate more than offend. That's just my opinion (and Josh's too I guess :P). Take it for what it's worth

Check out my ramblings on life at http://www.sahdguy.blogspot.com/

Gaming - This response made me lol. I actually have never been asked if I am babysitting, but if I do I might use this one, just to see their response. I would probably say I am kidding, and follow up with the truth, but I can't wait to be asked.

I think we all have responces to what we see reguarding adults with children. I would imagine that in the 21st century and in a liberal socity that peopl are alloud to make all the asumptions they would like about a man caring for a child. However, that doesn't mean we should voice our opinion or thoughts. I would love to tell women to keep a better eyen on their kids, I would love to tell people at the playground that right this minute with you chiald on the jungle gym isn't the time to have your face glued to your iPhone. But I don't.

Some one once started getting on my case at the playgound and started asking what I thought were personal questions. When she asked what I did before I was an AHD I told her I had been in The French Foreign Legion. She stopped asking me questions after that.

Be Seeing You.

Stupid way to phrase my title, I know. But really, do we have to react with anger and sarcasm at every question? I get asked the babysitting question a lot when I visit a new store with my daughter and I either say that I am babysitting (because why bother to explain to a stranger I'll never see again) or I tell the truth. Either way I don't think I would have gained much by asking the person to go "f@#$ themselves". I mean, really?? Isn't the babysitting question more along the lines of "..is it hot enough for ya?" rather than trying to somehow debase all stay at home dads?

Some interesting responses, many of which may have tempted each of us. But the simple answer is the best: "No."
Because you are not, in fact, babysitting.
The extent to which we over-analyze the response (do I go positive? negative?) is an indicator of our insecurity. If a woman was asked the same question, she would no doubt look puzzled and answer, "no."
Our need to either tell the question-asker to f themselves or to explain in great detail the percentage of time we spend with the kid is our immaturity.
People who work in low-status jobs know all about this: "You must hate working at the front desk." My answer was always, "no, I don't."
The burden of explaining oneself should fall on the question asker, not on you.
We have two jobs here: care for the kid and act with confidence like it's what we do.
If you want to mellow the comment out and maybe make a friend, you can do this: "No, why do you ask?"

I'm with, "No" or , "No, why do you ask?" I really didn't believe that the people around me, other than my wife, thought I could do it. When the baby was born, my mom bought me a book called, "Keeping the Baby Alive Till Your Wife Gets Home" thinking it was funny. At first, I was insecure about whether I could take care of him but I had to step up right away. My wife got postpartum depression within days of giving birth and she didn't want anything to do with taking care of him. She's mostly recovered now and is a great mom but she says that she couldn't possibly have done what I do everyday and is constantly telling me how great of a dad I am. I think I was raised to believe that dads responsibility was to make money since he couldn't possibly take care of babies even though I've obviously shown otherwise. That's probably why the question pushes my buttons. Why not just answer "No", or "No, why do you ask?" to the question. The burden of explaining should be on the asker.

Thanks for all of the great answers.
Tim

You had the best response, buddy. That's how I handle it -- why bother being snippy, or humorous, when often times people are butting in and asking personal questions? I try to respond with "yes" or "no" and just leave it at that. And rudeness isnt necessary, I can be friendly and smile and say "No, I'm not babysitting" and then don't volunteer any other information. After all, we don' thave to answer to anyone... except possibly our wives.

Check my blog
http://diaryofadadman.gainesville.com/

Now that I have been doing this for three months I've gotten a bit more used to people staring at 'that dude with the weird sling' or asking the stupid questions. What i like to throw back whenever people ask me if I'm babysitting, like my neighbor yesterday, is "Every single day" or '24/7." It kinda puts it back on them to figure it out.

I've definitely noticed a strange difference in moms' reactions depending on where I am at. In the grocery store and fruit market I have never once had a mom at least acknowledge me with a smile or hello, but at Target I've had multiple friendly conversations with moms. Anybody else notice this quirk?

Rich C. : Novice baby wrangler and cat herder.
http://one-sahd-dude.blogspot.com/
http://good-eats-fan.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onesahddude/

It truly is a sight to be seen; an inexperienced new dad toting around a stroller, sportin' the baby bjorn, shuffling through his diaper bag backpack, hunting for bib and bottle in order to quiet his crying little bitty baby. Ahhh, how cute. Gentlemen, this is the life we live - be proud, and don't care for anything but your child.

Alby1 - Chicago, IL

TimB - I feel for you...every week? Man, I can count on one hand the number of stupid similar questions I've had thrown at me in the 8.5 years I've been doing this....and I haven't lived in the most progressive places either! (Although now I live in a San Francisco neighborhood where a married mom and dad with two biological children seems like a quaint throwback to an earlier era...).

On the very rare occasion I've been hit with a stupid comment, I've always just replied that no, Mom doesn't have the day off (or whatever) since I'm a full time at home Dad and do this 24/7. My brain has always screamed the low road respone, but my mouth has managed to spit out a high road response...and I've always gotten a positive reaction.

- Andy

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13th Annual At-Home Dads' Convention: www.athomedadconvention.com