Teaching a teenager independence is tough, especially when social anxiety makes everyday tasks more difficult.

As a father navigates the balance between self-reliance and empathy, a tense family conflict emerges.

Read on to find out what happens next!

AITA for letting my daughter be hungry and not ordering for her at a fast food place

My daughter is 15 and she has social anxiety.

She is in counseling for it and not meds (not needed).

The rule in our household is that if you want fast food when we are out, you pay for it with your own money.

If you don’t have McDonald’s money, you aren’t going there.

I also don’t allow eating in the car, so we stop at places to eat.

The father offers opportunities for her to eat before they leave.

We had to go out and do some errands.

I told her to grab something to eat beforehand, but she said she wasn’t hungry.

We go on our errands and halfway through, she wants to stop by Wendy’s.

I pull in and tell her to go order I will get a seat.

Then they run into a problem.

She comes back a few minutes later and tells me she can’t order.

She doesn’t want to talk to the cashier at the front of the store.

I told her she needs to order and we will head out.

She asked me to order and I told her no.

We sit for about 10 minutes when I tell her it’s time to go.

Now things are tense between them.

She, in short, is ticked and my wife is also upset I didn’t order for her.

They said that I let her go hungry.

I find this stupid. I didn’t starve her for days – it was 4 hour outing.

AITA?

Sure, it’s tough love, but sometimes that’s necessary.

What did Reddit have to say?

Sometimes facing your fears is the best way to get over them.

This redditor thinks her parents are just trying to prepare her for the real world.

This redditor sees no fault from the father in the situation.

This user commends the father.

While there may be a temporary rift between the father and daughter, there may come a day where she thanks him for challenging her.

Sometimes the only way to get over your fears are to face them head on.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.