Parent Asks if They’re Wrong for Saying Their Kids Aren’t Their Greatest Accomplishment
by Matthew Gilligan
It’s par for the course to hear pretty much every single parent out there say that their kids are the greatest thing to ever happen to them…but are some moms and dads just saying that for show?
This parent was honest and said that their kids are not their greatest accomplishment and now they’re wondering if they acted like an a**hole.
Read on to see what’s going on here.
AITA for saying that my kids are not my “greatest accomplishment” and that I resent the assumption they are?
“I love my kids, but they are not my everything. I had a whole lifetime before. I ran marathons, climbed mountains, wrote a novel that was published and did moderately successful in the 00s, and have a MFA in creative writing.
Chatting with some folks in the neighborhood, we got to talking about our greatest accomplishments. When it came to me, Tom said “Oh, well we know what your greatest accomplishment is, obviously. You have three beautiful, well-behaved children.”
I was honestly shocked, and I said no, that’s NOT my greatest accomplishment. He looked just as shocked, and I said what my greatest accomplishment is, and then said “And by the way, I resent the assumption that having kids is my greatest accomplishment. You have kids, why didn’t you say that?”
He said how he didn’t birth the kids, and how that’s a miracle of life and all that gag-me sh*t. I just rolled my eyes and said “Let’s not boil women down to their biological functions, kay?”
Jen, who has kids, chimed in and said “Well, my kids are my greatest accomplishment. I can’t imagine thinking anything else.”
Tom looked super smug, others including other moms chimed in. All of the moms agreed their kids were their greatest accomplishment.
I kind of stewed about it. After that, the woman who chimed in sent me a message asking me if I needed to talk to someone, and asked if I was depressed, because my statement was worrisome.
She ended up reaching out to my husband to encourage me to get help, because it seems I’m unhappy being a mom and that puts my kids at risk.
Am I really the a**hole here for thinking being a Mom isn’t the end all be all of my life?
Like… wtf?”
Let’s see how folks on Reddit responded to this woman’s story.
This person said she’s NTA and that she’s spot-on.
And this woman who has children says that her kids are not her greatest relationship.
Another Reddit user said she’s NTA and it sounds like these other folks are bitter about what she’s done.
Nobody should tell you how to view your life. Ever.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.