Generally, young people that show initiative, commitment, and an entrepreneurial spirit are lauded with praise.

But what happens when a young girl boss gets in trouble for holding her neighbor “employee” to a high standard – and ultimately fires her?

As this story from Reddit shows, things can get awkward, fast.

AITA for not making my daughter rehire the neighbor girl to her small business?

My daughter (12) started a small business with birthday money she’d saved up.

We stan a girl boss.

She hired a few kids from the neighborhood to work in her business once it started to grow.

This kid has a plan, and an expectation. So what happens when the work doesn’t meet the standard?

One of the neighborhood kids she hired wasn’t doing satisfactory work, so she ended up having to fire her.

I stayed out of it. Not my place to micromanage.

The parent is letting her daughter handle her own business, literally. The mother of the fired kid doesn’t seem to agree with the strategy.

The mother of the child my daughter let go contacted me and said her child was feeling left out now that they couldn’t participate in the business and asked me to instruct my daughter to rehire them.

I explained I’m really not involved in her business at all, so I didn’t feel right doing that.

She said it’s all well and good to stand back to an extent but when it gets to the point that it’s exclusionary it’s my responsibility to step in as the parent, because now her child’s feelings had been hurt, and that’s more important than how lucrative my daughter’s business is or isn’t.

Is it exclusionary to hold people to the expectation that was set?

This is a business, no matter how old the owner is.

Holding people accountable isn’t leaving them out.

I told her I couldn’t help. She was pretty flustered and said I could help but was choosing not to.

It got to a point that I more or less had to ask her to leave my house.

I see both sides, and worry I was harsh in what I said to her or should have given her concerns a longer hearing.

But I don’t know what else I could have said (or not said) to her.

AITA for refusing to intervene?

It sounds like the neighbor needs to talk to her own daughter, not her daughter’s former boss’s mother. But let’s see what people on Reddit have to say about the situation.

Top comment says that the “fired” kid better get used to it.

Others applaud the young business owner for her competence.

One commenter says that we need some more information to make a true judgement here.

This is something clearly important to the kid, and she has no obligation to prop up someone that’s not as invested as she is, says another.

It seems like most people agree that the kid, and the mom, made fine decisions. But then things take a turn, and child labor laws come into play.

And finally, one person says maybe 12 is too young to be worrying about business in a big way, and things should be a little more casual.

This would absolutely never fly in an “adult” workplace.

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.