Sometimes family can be on the polar opposite ends of an arguement.
Sad isn’t it?
You think you know somebody and then suddenly, a rift is casued.
This can be especially difficult when it involves parenting each other’s children.
Case in point…
Redditor Typical-Door-1269 wanted to discuss his story for some feedback. So naturally he came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
He asked:
“AITA for telling my sister she is no better than her daughter?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“I (45 M[ale]) have a son (10 M) that loves the show MLP (My Little Pony).”
“He has a few toys, some t-shirts, and posters from the show.”
“We moved recently due to a new job and want to be closer to the family.”
“My ex is not in the picture due to personal reasons.”
“It’s been hard raising my son as a single father, but I am doing my best.”
“I love my son and raising him to be respectful to others.”
“My sister (48 F[emale]) lives about 15 minutes away.”
“We were really close growing up, but my sister never approved the idea of me raising my son alone.”
“Son is attending the local school and loves his new friend group.”
“My niece (11F) attends the same school as son.”
“I have been receiving calls from school that my niece and her friends have been bullying my son and his friends.”
“He likes to bring a pony toy with him to school to keep in his backpack as it makes him happy.”
“Son came home crying from school that niece broke the toy and threw it in the trash.”
“I was furious and scheduled a meeting with the school and my sister.”
“My sister thinks it’s them goofing around and having fun.”
“Counseling was suggested and my sister thought the idea was ridiculous.”
“When we were leaving, my sister pulls me aside and says maybe you should have son watch something more appropriate for boys.”
“If he had a mother figure, there wouldn’t be any issues.”
“I look at her and say you aren’t any better than my niece.”
“My sister was shocked at my response and my parents reached out to have a stern talk with me about my son’s interest in a girly show.”
“They also suggested that I apologize to my sister for my comment.”
“AITA for telling my sister she is no better than her daughter?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA?:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors declared our OP was NOT the A**hole.
It’s a tricky situation.
Let’s hear some thoughts…
“NTA. What your son enjoys is none of his grandparents’ concern if it isn’t hurting anyone.”
“Sounds like your family doesn’t like people who buck traditional gender roles.” ~ mdthomas
“You realise that MLP has been around as numerous shows since the 80s?”
“And it’s only recently that grown men literally hijacked the last series to the point where the showrunners catering to them cratered the later seasons?”
“Like, MLP is still a girls, boys and women’s thing but the men in the fandom online are often bats**t aggressive to any girls and women.”
“There are also lots of cool dudes but the guys advertising their pony porn who get upset they couldn’t advertise it at cons really made it not great to share it.”
“I have my ponies in the attic and they still smell of the perfume they used to add.” ~ ScouseMoose
“Regardless of the specific demographics being targeted or enjoyed by a specific era of MLP, the fact is OPs son can like whatever the f**k he wants.”
“OP sounds like he’s doing a terrific job as a single parent and should be applauded for standing up for his son despite the outdated and bullying behavior of his family, from the niece up to the grandparents.”
“NTA, and kudos for standing by your son.” ~ VibrantEye
“Absolutely! I just get bothered by the fact that a lot of the grown men don’t like to share the fandom they’re in.”
“I love the fact that little boys get raised to not give a f**k.”
“I grew up loving sci-fi, stuff like The Thing and MLP.”
“My favorite cousin grew up loving MLP, Lizzie McGuire and it used to upset me that everyone thought he was gay because they used it like a hammer to try and break him because he likes building robots and rom-coms.”
“I was always glad that my grandparents always encouraged us, as did our favorite parents.” ~ ScouseMoose
“Okay, I’ll m pissed reading this whole thing so please forgive me in advance.”
“But HELL all the people telling OP he can’t raise a child without a woman and that if there was a woman in the picture son would not enjoy ‘girly’ things.”
“Oh my God… Seriously?”
“OP I am a single mother and I want to raise my son (I have a girl and a boy) to be a good man.”
“Which absolutely means I am not going to squash anything about his soft side because men are bullied by society to be… Unfeeling robots!”
“It should be okay for men to have feelings or to like pretty things or whatever.”
“Straight, gay, I don’t care!”
“Women are pretty. Straight men like women. I mean seriously?”
“Why is it that it’s okay for girls to climb trees and like trucks and we say ‘it’s okay she’s just a tom boy’ but it’s not okay for boys to do the same?”
“You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to tell your sister what is up and I promise you that if my sister’s kid was bullying my child I’d be going a lot further.”
“I’d be telling the child what is up.”
“I’d be telling my sister what is up.”
“And they could boo hoo themselves until the cows come home because no way am I tolerating bullying from any of the kids in my family.”
“My heart breaks for you that your child is being bullied by family.”
“What happened to aunties and uncles being surrogate parents, able to step in and verbally discipline kids?”
“It takes a village and more and more parents are closing their kids off into fake worlds.”
“Kids will grow up. They will have many teachers, professors, bosses.”
“I embrace the fact that my family, child care, schools have different styles of authority because this is preparing my kids for the real world.”
“Where they will encounter many different styles of leadership.”
“What I won’t tolerate is kids in my own family being mean to the other kids, my own kids included!”
“Sister needs to step up and be a mother.” ~ formidable-opponent
“NTA, toys are toys 😑 they are not gender specific.”
“Toys are stereotypically marketed for gender specificity, but thats just to boost sales.”
“Toys are cannot be gender specific because you cant know what kind of toys kids will want to play with.” ~ Different-Peak-8821
“Amen to this.”
“I had all the star wars, G.I Joe, and he man toys a boy could have.”
“And I also had my baby named Sally and my easy bake oven that we made cookies in.”
“To be fair, it was the 70s/80s, so I definitely didn’t advertise it to my friends, but I really hope that stigma has at least died down.”
“Also, NTA at all.”
“Your son sounds awesome!!!” ~ Reasonable-Coconut15
“They sound frankly homophobic, I wouldn’t be surprised if she has been encouraging her daughter to bully and have this attitude and belittle her nephew at home.”
“The fact she also objects to him being a single dad?!?”
“That’s just weird and gross.”
“These people need some love in their lives.”
“No offense but there are for larger things for little Ms. Susie Homemaker to worry about than a little boy loving My Little Pony and having a loving supportive dad.”
“She needs to get a grip on herself and the grandparents need to stop favoring one child over the other.”
“At the end of the day the poor boy is the one that is suffering being rejected by his family.”
“I hope OP finds some support.”
“He is being a great dad and supporting his son in his interests.” ~ learoit
“You currently have top comment so should add an official NTA judgement.”
“Also, if sister was so offended by OP’s comparison, maybe the grandparents should take it as a sign that niece’s behavior is the real issue.” ~ sequingoddess
“Yeah I mean ‘because they don’t approve of me being a single father.'”
“Which sounds like it wasn’t the intention.”
“So wtf do they suggest, he just leaves the kid because apparently in their eyes it is better to have no parents than one that is invested and sounds like a great parent.”
“I really can’t get the thoughts that went behind this. Ugh.”
“NTA. Of course.” ~ Ammilerasa
“NTA – Keep the school involved.”
“Sounds like you’ll need them to back you up.”
“I would personally lose my mind if any of my relatives did this to my kids.”
“And as for him liking MLP, that is a wonderful show for anyone because it teaches great lessons about friendship, respect etc.”
“Everyone in my family, of all genders and ages loves it.”
“This made me so furious for y’all.” ~ PresentationAble337
Looks like OP has the parenting stamp of approval from Reddit.
Hopefully OP and sis can sit down and hash this out with good intentions.
It’s only My Little Pony.