I don’t understand how something like building your teenage sons a bedroom in the backyard could be a BAD thing, but you know how people can be…
They get upset about everything!
And this dad wants to know if he was out line.
Check out his story and see what you think!
AITA for building my teenage sons a bedroom in the backyard?
“My wife and I have 5 children together (9M, 8M, 7M, 4M, 2M) and I have 3 children with my ex-wife (17M, 15M, 13F). When I bought our current house, it had 4 bedrooms, I later renovated the basement to add another 2 bedrooms.
My wife and I have 1 room, the 3 teenagers had a room each, and the youngers boys share the other 2 rooms (with various configurations over the years). As the younger boys get older things are going to get more cramped for them and we haven’t ruled out having more kids.
I also don’t want to immediately take my older kid’s rooms away the second they go to college (and maybe they’ll stay local or no go at all), because of this I started looking at how I would add more bedrooms.
The property our house is on is a little under 1 acre. Last year I decided I would build a den in the backyard that could become the older boys’ bedrooms. The build was finished a few weeks ago and the boys have moved in. They have a small shared living space that includes a kitchenette, a shared bathroom, and they each have their own rooms. It’s essentially a tiny house in our yard. They boys love it, and we had a lot of fun working on the build together.
My ex-wife, however, is less than pleased with the boys new living arrangements. She has multiple safety concerns as she thinks they are too far away if something happens and that they will feel like they could get away with whatever as I can’t monitor them well.
She also thinks it’s unfair they will have to walk through a yard to get to and from their bedrooms to the house even in adverse weather conditions. She feels as though I’m pushing the boys away by housing them in the backyard and that it suggests I’m prioritising my new family, while at the same time thinking giving them a cool den in the backyard is favoring them over their sister.
I think her biggest issue is the one she didn’t mention, which is worrying the boys will want to spend even more time at my house if they have more privacy and great place to hang with their friends. We no longer split custody based on our custody agreement and for the last few years the boys have lived the majority of the time with me, where as our daughter alternates between our houses every 2 weeks.
My ex is trying to make it out like I’m a massive a**hole in this situation, but I really don’t feel like I am. However, in the past I haven’t always known when I have been an a**hole so maybe I’m missing something.
AITA?”
Check out what people had to say about this on Reddit.
This person said he’s NTA and his ex-wife doesn’t get a say in this.
One reader said this is actually a good lesson for the boys.
And one Reddit user said they think his ex is just jealous about this.
I’d love it if my dad did this for me!