Parents naturally want to stay close to their children, but it doesn’t always work that way.

So, what would you do if your adult child wanted little to no contact because they held onto something you supposedly said years ago?

Would you try to reason with them?

Or would you call out their behavior for what it is?

In the following story, one father finds himself in this exact predicament with his grown son.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for admitting to my son that I love his mother more than him and telling him he’s acting self centered?

My son moved out right after graduating college last year.

Since then, he’s been very preoccupied with his own life.

My wife and I couldn’t be prouder of him, but we do wish he made a little more effort to keep in touch—especially since he only lives 30 minutes away.

Months would go by without hearing from him, and we were always the ones to reach out first.

We never complained about it to him—until my wife’s birthday.

Her birthday was two days ago, and we didn’t get a call or a surprise visit.

She was a little upset but chose not to confront him.

All it took was one phone call for everything to fall apart.

I decided to call him about it—not out of anger, just as a reminder.

I said, “Hey buddy, you missed your mom’s birthday.”

He immediately apologized and asked me to wish her a Happy Birthday on his behalf.

I told him it would be nice if he could visit us soon because we miss him.

Apparently, that set him off.

He told me that he has his own life to live and that we have ours.

I told him I understood, but we’re still his parents and want to stay close.

That’s when he bluntly said he doesn’t want a close relationship with us and that he’s frustrated we won’t leave him alone.

Blindsided, he didn’t know how to respond.

I asked him why, and out of nowhere, he brought up something from when he was ten years old.

He said he overheard my wife and me saying that we love each other more than we love him.

I was completely confused because I don’t recall ever saying anything like that.

When I asked for more context, he said we had been talking about our own parents’ marriages.

At some point, I said something along the lines of, “Even though I love him a lot, I love his mother the most.”

They haven’t spoken since.

My wife apparently agreed with me, and that conversation has tainted his view of our relationship ever since.

I told him there was nothing wrong with what I said and that he was acting like a self-centered brat who thinks the world revolves around him.

He told me to go to ****.

When I told my wife about what happened, she said I was wrong for calling him that—even though I believe it was true.

AITA?

Wow! Stories like this are always very upsetting.

Let’s check out what advice Reddit readers have for him.

It’s harsh but true.

What a sad thought.

Here’s a good point.

Well, when it’s put that way. Sheesh.

Yet another person who thinks the parents are in the wrong.

He needs to be more understanding.

If he expects to have any sort of relationship with his son, he needs to apologize and see if there’s any way to start over and rebuild a healthy relationship.

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.