Spending on kids’ hobbies is a balancing act, especially when the price tag raises eyebrows.

What would you do if your kid asked for something outrageously expensive for a video game and didn’t care when you said no, but your partner insisted you were being unfair? Would you give in? Or would you stand firm on your decision?

In today’s story, one mom finds herself at odds with her husband over this exact thing. Here’s how it played out.

AITA for refusing to buy my son a cosmetic in a video game for $300

So my (40f) son (10m) likes to play a very popular video game. I’ve never had any issues with it, as he has not shown any concerns so far. Yesterday he asked me if I could buy him something from the game.

Normally, I am not a fan of buying things in video games, but since Christmas is coming up, I was willing to make an exception. I was thinking it would be around $25, maybe $50 at the most and I could deal with that. But no. It was $300!! It was some “skin,” or whatever they call it these days. Essentially, to look cool in-game.

My issue is not that I cannot afford it because I easily could. My issue is that he wants something in a video game, something that is essentially useless, for that amount of money. With that much money, I could buy something physical that he could actually use.

The son took it better than his father.

His father (52m) is calling me selfish and unreasonable for not buying this, telling me to lighten up because it’s Christmas. We fought over this a lot. (I forgot to add: I tried to explain to him calmly that with $300, we could buy him so many bigger and better things. He blew up on me. Said the same thing to my son, and he seemed to be receptive)

He was much more upset than my son was. My son literally could not care less and said it was “chill.” And went back to playing like nothing happened.

Now, if he threw a fit over wanting this “skin” badly, I would understand my husband’s frustration… but that’s not the case here. It seemed he could care less either way. I told him about his reaction, but he still insists that we buy this thing.

AITA?

Wow! The son took that well, but the husband, on the other hand, not so much.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit have to say about this issue.

Here’s a great idea!

This person thinks they know what skin it is.

As this person points out, it sounds like the husband is the one who wants it.

Another good solution.

The husband needs to back off. If the son isn’t upset, then why is he?

There’s no doubt her son will be happier with real gifts to open than one in-game skin.

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.