When kids are growing up, they won’t always get their way, but it is also important to try to respect their desires.

What would you do if your child’s stepfather was trying to force him into an activity that he didn’t want to do?

That is the situation in this story, and dad wasn’t having it.

Read on for details.

AITA for refusing to make my son go on a camping trip after his stepdad and uncle told he had no choice?

I share custody of a moody, emotional, cranky 11yo boy with his mom.

It’s a tough age for sure.

I am very mindful and respectful that he’s hitting puberty and give him space and boundaries.

One minute he will give you the death stare for being in the same room and the next minute he’ll want to play fight because he knows I’m going to hug and kiss him.

That seems to be common these days.

Right now Ethan is going through a phase where he doesn’t any adult relative posting any picture or video of him on their social media account.

The of exceptions is if you’re between the ages of 14 to 25 and doing something fun or makes him look cool.

His mom and stepdad love posting pictures of their family all the time.

A reasonable request, for the most part.

Ethan told them not to post pictures of him.

His stepdad told him to not post family pictures without him is like letting him not shower or brush his teeth.

It’s sorta required.

My son complained to me and I said I’m not getting involved with how they run their home.

To me, it’s not a hill worth dying over.

Ethan let them know how he felt.

I had Ethan all week and he goes back to his mom’s on Saturday.

Poor kid.

He refuses to go back because he doesn’t want to go to the family Labor Day camping trip where he’ll be photographed.

I asked my son if this was really worth fighting over and he believes so.

I spoke to his mom and she thought it was ridiculous.

I said I agree but this is just some weird tween boy power trip thing so just promise not to take his picture.

She refused.

Now Ethan refuses to go on the trip.

They are overstepping here.

Last night his stepdad and maternal uncle called him separately.

Both times resulted in Ethan crying.

They basically told him his *** was going.

That made me mad.

I called them both up and said my custody issues with his mom is none of their business.

I agree it’s stupid and a compromise could had been met.

Now that you all inserted yourself into the matter, I have no choice but to let him stay here if he wants.

His mom is mad at ME.

I told her to just drop it and you can take him for a few extra days when you get back.

Exactly, everyone needs to calm down and take a step back.

The situation has gotten too dramatic.

It’s not like he doesn’t want to go back because he has to clean his room.

He has to know that his stepdad and uncle are not calling the shots too.

She is furious at me and says I’m encouraging bad behavior by letting him stay here.

Ironically I’m way more strict than she is.

AITA?

This is a difficult, and weird, situation.

Let’s turn to the comments to get some insights.

This commenter makes a good point.

This is a weird thing for mom to make an issue out of.

Consent is important.

Yup, this might have to be a situation where the kid doesn’t get what he wants.

Yeah, you don’t want to get the courts involved.

Mom needs to respect his wishes on this.

It’s common sense!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.