Not all kids work on the same timeline. They mature at different speeds, learn at different paces, and generally, you know.

Everyone is an individual and all of that.

As hard as lagging behind can be on a child, it can be tough on parents, too.

It probably shouldn’t be so important that our kids “keep up,” but that worry can be hard to shake.

This mom doesn’t think a GED at 26 is worth celebrating, but is she wrong?

Let’s hear her out.

AITA for refusing to hold a graduation party for my daughter for getting her GED

I will try to keep this as short as possible. My middle daughter has always struggled with academics. She was in the average classes usally getting a C or B.

In highschool it got harder and she went through a lot of tutoring. When she was 17, she almost failed out.

She had been tested before but it came back with nothing.

His daughter started to spiral and ended up ruining several close relationships over drugs and money.

We learned at that time that she decided to stop, she wasn’t turning stuff in and told us there was no point since she doesn’t do well academically.

She also had a huge resentment at the time for her younger sister that was academically inclined.

She turned 18 and refused to go to school and dropped out.

After this she spiraled and ruined a lot of relationships with friends and family. She had an addiction.

Her three siblings do not speak with her and my wife doesn’t interact with her. That’s a whole different story but in short she stole a lot of money.

Now, she’s back on track and has completed her GED – and she wants to celebrate.

She is now 26 and back on track. She called me asking me to host a graduation party since she got her GED.

That I did it for the rest of the kids.

He has his reasons for telling her no.

I told her no for three main reasons.

The first being she isn’t a graduating, she got her GED. No one will show up, she has screwed almost all of the family so they won’t go and her friends are shady so I don’t want to invite them.

My last is that she is 26 and this was supposed to happen when she was 18.

She called me a jerk.

AITA?

That said, he’s wondering whether or not he’s a jerk.

You know Reddit is ready to lay it out for him!

The top comment says maybe there could be a compromise.

This person says he’s sending the wrong message.

After all, she’s worked really hard.

They should definitely be supporting her accomplishments.

She should know that he’s there for her.

I think he could have handled this better, for sure.

Poor girl just wants to take a deep breath and look around for a minute.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.