Woman is 'too friendly' with a single dad, 'it's the same as cheating.' AITA?

"AITA for being 'too friendly' with a single dad?"

Okay so here’s the backstory: I made a male friend at the park when going on a walk with my daughter. She’s seven months so I push her in the stroller, but we go everyday, and I’ll go on the playground with her so we can go down the slides together.

There’s this single dad I see there a lot and he has a five-year-old daughter too. He struck up a conversation with me a few times and eventually we just started talking every time we run into eachother. Usually we just watch his daughter play while I let mine nap in the stroller for a bit or we both play with her.

He’s really nice, but he’s about four years younger than me so it feels like he’s a kid in comparison? Which is weird because he has more parenting experience than me (he was a teen parent).

He’s an orphan and lost both parents (he has no extended family) when his daughter was a toddler, so it's just him and her, with the baby momma out of the picture. Occasionally I’ve started bringing them food (we text casually, just to see if they’ll be at the park when I go), and i give it to them. No strings attached, I just feel bad and I want them to eat something nicer than normal.

My husband found out about this and is saying it's the same as cheating, and wants me to drop this friend. And says I shouldn't play mommy to another man’s kid. All this despite me being in a mommy and baby group where we make and trade dinner with each other every weekend, but this is different apparently. Am I the ahole for this?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

DTH1998 said:

I mean would you be happy with it if he were apparently chatting up some single mom so consistently he knew her life story, you found out he was texting with her and then taking her food, all without you knowing? I doubt it.

MaeSilver909 said:

Why didn’t you tell your husband about your new friend? Introduce the two of them? Does your new friend know you’re married? YTA. Until you mentioned your husband, I thought you were a single mom. If the guy was truly a friend, your husband would have know about it. Seems like you’re flirting.

We_4ll_Fall_Down said:

YTA. Texting, making food, and seeing each other regularly all while your husband is unaware that this man exists is very odd. And there’s a difference between a group of friends exchanging dinners vs a solo hangout with a young man that you keep feeding.

How would you feel if your husband was making dinner for and texting and hanging out with a single mom 4 years younger than him? You’d be cool with that? Be serious.

tiger0204 said:

I'll take my downvotes. YTA - You're hanging out with a single dude while your kid naps and also making the guy meals? You really don't see a difference in that and a mommy group where everyone exchanges meals and no one is alone with members of the opposite sex?

Important-Cricket-40 said:

I think YTA for not telling your husband honestly. Idk if you're cheating, but going off of explicitly what you've told us, the only thing making it look suspicious is that you hid it for some reason.

Devri30 said:

YTA. I wouldn't immediately go to cheating, but meeting a single dad regularly, talking about personal stuff, bringing him food and even texting him to see if he's going to be there, all the while not telling your husband about it, is a bit sketch.

Imagine if it was your husband meeting a younger, single mother almost daily and talking about pretty intimate stuff together. You'd be a bit alarmed by that too, wouldn't you?