One of the greatest joys in life can be having a child, but considering all of the conflict and chaos that a kid can bring into your life, having kids can also be one of the biggest sources of stress. People have taken to the Reddit thread r/AmItheA**hole to discuss their most polarizing parenting stories and they certainly don’t disappoint in the drama department. Whether it be posts about dealing with fellow parents or disputes over birthday parties, these stories show that parenthood is not for the faint of heart.
Read through these stories and help decide who is truly in the right.
Stories have been edited for length and clarity.
1
AITA For Not Allowing My Son To Be Punished After He Refused To Do A School Presentation?
From Redditor u/Soft_Ordinary_5259:
My son “George” just turned 13 this month.
George is very bright, projected to get 8s or 9s in his GCSEs, and regularly achieves these grades in his mock exams and assessments. But he struggles socially and has been bullied badly in the past. Things are better now, but he isn’t popular.
As part of his PD class, he had to create a children’s toy and give a sales pitch to the class. Last Friday was the presentation day, and George was really excited. He’d put a lot of effort into his toy and the presentation.
But I got a notification saying George had been given a C3 (after-school detention), something he’s never received before. As he’d refused to participate in class and didn’t do his presentation. When I picked him up, I could tell immediately that he was upset.
I asked him what happened and why he didn’t do the presentation. He said he didn’t refuse the presentation; when it was his turn, he asked to go later. His teacher said no, and that he had to do it then or get a C3. George said he “couldn’t do it now,” but didn’t explain further when asked, so he was given the C3.
I kept pressing him, worried that maybe he was being bullied again. Eventually, he told me the real reason: he had a random erection just before his turn and, no matter what, it “wouldn’t go down”.
With that info, I think George’s request was perfectly reasonable. He didn’t refuse to do the presentation—he simply asked to do it a little later. Obviously, he didn’t want to explain the reason in front of the whole class when the teacher asked him.
His mum was really angry with him for getting the C3. I explained what happened and said I didn’t think George was wrong. I said I’m not supporting the detention and would pick him up at the normal time. When I told his mum what happened, she looked disgusted and said something like, “Why did he even have one in class to begin with?” I explained that random erections happen, especially in early puberty, and they don’t always relate to sexual thoughts, which is what she was assuming. She replied, “Well, I’m not sure that’s true,” dismissing what I said. So I told her, “You might not be sure, but I am.”
She insisted we needed to present a united front, along with the school, and that by going against her, I was sending George the wrong message. I asked why her way of handling it was automatically right and why I should be the one to concede. It escalated into a big argument, which we haven’t had in years.
She’s saying she is going to punish him for refusing when it’s her week with him next week and that I am being an AH for “going against her”. Her mother text me saying I was setting a bad example for George by letting him get away with being disrespectful to his teacher. Which he wasn’t even, just asked to do his presentation later. I respectfully told her she should mind her own business, and that George was my son.
But now I’m worrying whether I’ve done the right thing, and I need some outside perspectives.
2
AITA For Crying In Front Of My Kid?
From a former Redditor:
Ok, so I (36M), am trying to raise 2 emotionally intelligent kids, hopefully unaffected by the issues that messed with my childhood and carried through my adulthood. So, I have done my absolute best to break down the whole ‘guys don’t cry bs’. But, obviously, I don’t cry in front of my kids, cause thats weird.
Unfortunately, I broke this rule of mine yesterday. I know its not an excuse, but I was tired and I was stressed. My daughter’s bed decided to break the other day, so I had to fix it over the weekend and works been messy at best. I was talking with my son, (12M), basically the conversation was about him and how he was going with his school life and friendships.
One thing led to another, and I was just so happy and proud about how well this kid turned out, and pleased with myself for not being like my own dad so he could talk to me about this kind of stuff. Anyway I started crying. My son got sad and started trying to cheer me up, and I cried harder cause damn what a good kid.
Anyway, I thought that was an ok interaction, because it ended with my son feeling fine and I didn’t think he was too affected by the whole crying thing. However, this morning my wife has been very angry with me and how I could have traumatised my kid by doing that and he’s only 12 he doesn’t need to see his dad crying. She said I was an a** for doing this to a kid.
What she said made sense and I’m feeling pretty bad about it now. I don’t really know what to do. I didn’t think it was that bad but my wife thinks differently. AITA?
3
AITA For Telling My Husband’s Kids The Truth After They Insinuated I Was A Golddigger?
From Redditor u/Good-Face1725:
Ive 38F been married to my husband Rob 52M for 4 years now. My husband’s late wife died 1 year before we met and we dated for 2 years before marriage. He has 2 kids 28-Madison and 26-Brett. Note I am not calling them my stepkids because they explicitly told me I am not their stepmom, just their dad’s wife. I didnt play a part in raising them so Im ok with that. Its always been a tense between us, Ive tried my best to be kind to them and have been generous when I can be, but they are very cold with me. Being a child of divorce, I can partially relate to a parent moving on so I try not to force anything.
Madison recently got engaged and we are excited about it. Everyone was over recently and she asked about a wedding budget from us and Rob told her he was able to contribute 10k. She has bigger hopes for her wedding than this so she was upset and kept asking for more. Rob however is still working hard on building his savings back up. Before his late wife died, he basically wiped out his cash savings, had to cash out his 401k, and even took a small mortgage on his house to cover medical costs as well as life expenses since he had to cut back on working. Eventually he had to drop that job for a more flexible but lower paying one, so this 10k is actually really generous from him.
Rob went to run an errand and it was just me and his kids. Madison then asked me if Im going to give any in addition to what her dad is giving. I told her were a marital unit and thats what we discussed together as a reasonable amount to contribute. She then said “I should have known, obviously you married an older man for what he had, not for what you could give”. I knew she didnt like me but this is the most flat out rude thing she ever said. I kinda lost it and said “excuse me, who do you think has been paying the second mortgage your dad took out to pay his debts?”
Truth of the matter is I make more than her father by a large margin, I have no debt, and have been paying 70% of the household bills the whole time we’ve been married. The 10k were giving her, is available because Ive been able to subsidize her father’s living expenses the last few years. I made it clear that not only am I not a golddigger, I’m literally wealthier than my “older husband”. She called me stuck up after this and stormed out. Then she called her dad later and said that I told her that I blamed her mother for being sick for her not having a better wedding budget. I told him what happened and he was mad at her, but also said I shouldn’t have shared his financial details with his kids.
4
AITA For Wearing A Two-Piece Bathing Suit To My Kid’s Swim Lessons?
From Redditor u/anon-ymousss:
I (27f) am a mother to quadruplets aged 2. This is their first year taking swimming lessons, and, at their age, the lessons require one-one-one with the child/adult as well as an instructor to teach. So me, my husband, and two of my husbands friends came along. (Unfortunately all four of the kids got booked for the same time). They started the lessons on Monday and ended today (Friday).
At the lessons, all the other kids had their mothers/female guardians with them, and all of them wore shorts/shirt swimsuits. My husband/his friends had trunks with no shirt, and I wore a two piece. Nothing bad, everything was well covered, but obviously my stomach and back showed. I didn’t think it was a big deal, and I honestly didn’t even notice what everyone wore until probably Wednesday. And it was fine because everybody (including me) was modest.
However, they finished their lessons today. When everyone was getting changed to leave, a few mothers came up to me. They said they didn’t want to mention it earlier to make classes awkward, but they and a few other mothers were uncomfortable with how I was wearing a two piece to the lessons all week. The suggested if I do another class with my kids here, I cover up my stomach because nobody wants to see it Because of the stretch marks from my pregnancy. (Which is a lot more than average because I had quadruplets). I asked if they had an issue with how my husband/his friends didn’t wear a shirt at all, and they said the didn’t care because they didn’t have the “baby belly” like I did.
Now I’m back home, and I can’t decide if they were being rude or just were honest. They made sure to tell me it wasn’t about the modesty, it was just my stomach. I never thought about it, so maybe it’s my fault for being careless and not thinking of everyone else. My husband says I was fine, but all the mothers there apparently don’t think so. AITA?
5
AITA For Not Inviting A Kid To My Son’s Birthday Party?
From Redditor u/thisisatempaccountfo:
Hello, (Throwaway account, made just for this).
Context – My son (8M) is a quiet person, he doesn’t like to make a show of things and likes to keep things to himself. This made it hard for him to make friends but i didn’t want to force him to have any but when he was 6 he asked if he could join a small art group they were forming at his school, which i did, and he went on to make friends with 3 other kids who were exactly like him and since then and i keep in contact with all the parents to arrange gatherings or days out and they are the only friends he ever talked about or mentioned to me.
So, to throw my sons 8th birthday party i contacted the parents of my sons friends and checked if they could come. (They said yes)
I asked my son if he wanted anyone else to come and he said no, so i sent out the invites with my son to give to his friends at school and thought nothing of it, But when i went to pick up my son some lady who i have never seen before comes up to me, she asked me if it was my sons birthday and why her son wasn’t invited. I was really confused at the time so i asked my kiddo if it was one of his friends to which he said no. I was then even more confused and asked why she wants a invite to which she says my son was promising her son a place and his party and that she had already made plans for the time the party was happening.
I then thought this must be some sort of joke and told her to make new plans and that her son will not be invited if he isn’t a friend of my son. She started saying something but by then I really couldn’t be asked, so I got in my car and left as i had more important things to do.
The next day when i went to drop my son off at a music lesson and i saw her there. She gave me dirty looks and when I walked past she called me [an] a**hole.
So reddit, AITA?
