Just because kids are family doesn’t mean they have to be friends, especially when one consistently makes things unpleasant.

So, what would you do if your child wanted to exclude a cousin from their birthday party because of past bad experiences?

Would you respect their wishes?

Or would you insist on including the person since their sister was invited?

In the following story, one mother helps her daughter navigate this very situation.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for not forcing my(34f) daughter(9f) to invite her cousin(11f) to her birthday tea party?

So, my daughter Carmen is celebrating her birthday tomorrow, and I’m still getting messages about this.

She chose the theme of a backyard princess fairy tea party (her words, lol).

And my husband Matt(35m), like always, went all out and made our backyard perfect for her birthday.

He built these little tables set up and bought princess plates and little tea cups.

I helped Carmen pick her outfit.

The whole thing was like this magical thing and it was super pretty, and Carmen loved it

The problem is that Carmen invited 9 girls and none of them was her cousin Emma (my sisters Anna’s kid).

Carmen is trying to invite Emma’s sister.

It wasn’t surprising because Emma and Carmen don’t have a good relationship.

It’s not my daughter’s fault; Emma is just a really mean kid that rough plays and is quite a mean kid.

It doesn’t help that she’s heavily cuddled by my sister and my parents as she is the first niece/grandchild.

So, naturally, Carmen doesn’t like to to be around her, and she didn’t want to invite Emma to ruing the party, and I don’t blame her.

She did invite Trixie(8f), Emma’s younger sister, and this is where the problem starts.

Anna called me today, asking where was Emma’s invitation since Trixie got one.

She and Anna had words for each other.

I told her simply that Carmen didn’t want her there.

Anna got mad and demanded that I invite her daughter and said I was teaching my daughter to be a bully.

She said she wouldn’t let Trixie come without Emma I said okay, she was the one depriving her daughter of a good time, not me, then I hung up.

Anyway, she got my parents involved, and they’re calling me an ******* for excluding a child, but am I wrong?

Carmen doesn’t want her there, and I’m not going to force her- but I’m starting to doubt myself, and I don’t want more family drama.

What do y’all think?

AITA?

Eek! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but kids will be kids.

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

Good point.

Funny and true!

Here’s an excellent way to look at it.

For this person, there are no winners.

It’s the daughter’s tea party.

If she wants to invite one cousin but not the other, then so be it.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.