As a father, one of my favorite phases was when my children always wanted to be with me.

Of course, there were times when this would become overwhelming, and I would need a little break.

In this story, the father is asked to go out on a boat for some fun with his cousins.

Unfortunately, Mom wouldn’t let him go unless he took his clingy son.

Was mom wrong for denying dad a little break? Let’s see.

AITA for telling my husband’s cousins if they went out with my husband, they would have to take our son with them?

Our son is 2 and right now he’s going through a phase where his dad is his absolute favorite person and he’s practically glued to him.

It’s come at a good time since we’re visiting my husband’s family so he’s available to spend more time with our son than he normally would be.

Sounds like perfect timing for the family!

My husband’s cousins wanted to go out on the boat with my husband.

It can be a challenge to tell a toddler no when they want to do something, and mom wasn’t about to go through that (even if time on a boat may not be 100% safe for a 2-year-old).

They were discussing it in front of me and I let them know they would have to take my son with them if my husband went.

They told me it wasn’t a good idea for them to take him and made up some lies about how it would be dangerous for him to go with them.

I suggested they do something else then because my son wouldn’t stay in if his dad was going out.

They kept trying to convince me to keep my son home and even asked me why he couldn’t stay with me at one point.

Mom isn’t having it, so the father-in-law has to step in to force the cousins to take the little one…

Eventually my father-in-law told them they could only use the boat if they took my son too which is the only reason they finally backed down and agreed.

They weren’t happy about it, though.

Take note of this!

My husband wasn’t there during the conversation as he was bathing our son but he didn’t seem concerned about taking our son on the boat.

Which is why I know they were just making stuff up so he couldn’t go.

AITA?

When I first started reading this story, I was on Mom’s side.

By the end, however, I changed my mind.

Other Reddit users seem to feel the same way, and this user thinks Mom is using the ‘dad phase’ as an excuse to get out of parenting.

Here’s another good point…The kid WAS NOT invited on this outing!

How hard is it to see that not every activity is kid-friendly!?

Teaching kids that they don’t always get what they want is good parenting.

It is understandable to want to avoid a meltdown from your toddler, but sometimes it is the right thing to do.

More parents need to learn how to tell their kids no.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.