When you’re a parent one of the most important lessons you’ll teach your kids is to make sure they create the right boundaries. Especially when it comes to people entering their personal space.
The following story shares that valuable lesson in a pretty obvious way.
A father took to Reddit to share his experience.
I (30m) was talking with my wife’s friend who was there for dinner. She tried to hug my son (7), but he had a bad day and said no thanks.
She kept pressuring him when and he didn’t budge, so she looked at me.
I said a kid at school started a fight with him, and he was grumpy, so maybe later.
She said “Come on. You’re just gonna let him disobey like that?”
The woman was persistent…
I said I raised him to build his own boundaries and say no when something violates them, and I would never make him break them for someone else.
She laughed and said he’s lucky he’s not her kid, and that behavior would be fixed fast.
I had my son go to his room, then I told her to get out.
I said the reason i got out of bed in the morning was to see my son grow another day older, and I would not stand for him being treated like a pet rather than a person.
The woman’s reaction angered the man greatly, so he told her to leave his home as she was no longer welcome.
She called me a jerk and left.
My wife is disappointed, because she went to yoga with her, but says she can’t scold me, because she’d probably do the same.
AITA?
Reddit users were unanimous in their feelings about the situation.
One reader called the woman absurd.
Another person praised the writer for being a good father.
This reader said the father was teaching a valuable lesson, one that the woman needs to learn.
I’m definitely with dad on this one.
Setting boundaries is so key to long term happiness.
If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.