Despite how much joy it brings, having a family can be a lot, and it’s natural that sometimes, we all need a little bit of alone time.

But what about when your family is so tight-knit that they start imposing on this hard-won alone time?

That’s what happened to the guy in this story. His birthday seems like the perfect time for a little peace and quiet, but his loving family wants to celebrate with him as much as possible.

Read on to find out more.

AITA for choosing to not spend my day off with my family?

I am 43 and my wife is 40. We have two sons (10 and 14), and we both work from 9 am to 5 or 6pm, even later sometimes.

The boys have after school activities almost every day, so after work we usually drive them to or from somewhere. Then there’s the helping with homework, cooking, house chores, etc.

The weekends, though less busy, are also filled with chores, driving, visiting family, and such.

In sum, we have little time for ourselves as a couple, and almost no time alone individually.

He wants a day to himself.

This year, my company is giving everybody their birthday off. Mine is a Monday a couple of weeks from now.

When I told my family this, they were exited: my wife said that I should swing by her workplace in order for us to have lunch together. The kids said that I should pick them up from school to have lunch.

I said, sorry, but I was planning on having the day to myself.

His family was no happy.

They were all disappointed, and I felt guilty.

I love my family, but I was planning on going to the beach, walking a bit, then having a nice meal enjoying the ocean view, hearing no other sounds except for the waves and the seagulls.

Besides, I’ll be spending my actual birthday with them and we’re going away for the weekend.

AITA for wanting to spend a day alone?

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Wow, this guy does so much for his family already. Who can blame him for wanting some alone time on his only day off?

Let’s see what Reddit thought about this.

This person agreed that on his birthday, this guy should call the shots.

While someone else encouraged the guy to be gentle with his wife.

Others noted that this seemed like an all-round nice family.

It’s totally not selfish for him to take time for himself.

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.