Parents have to learn to pick their battles. There are going to be a lot of things their kids do that they don’t necessarily like, but they don’t want to make too big of a deal out of little things so they can save the real parenting lessons for the bigger issues.

Is clothing and style a big enough issue that parents should nitpick their kids over it? What if it’s not really even a style issue but a child putting their clothing on backwards or inside out?

The mom in today’s story thinks this is a hill worth dying on, but her husband and daughter disagree.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for asking my daughter not to wear her clothes backwards?

My daughter is 10 years old. She has never been diagnosed with ADHD but her father, me and her stepfather (my husband) all believe she has it.

For the past year, she has had a tendency to put clothes on backwards, and it drives me NUTS.

I have sensory issues myself, so seeing her almost choked out by her clothes makes me feel like I’m suffocating.

She lets her daughter know when she sees her clothes are on backwards.

I’ve made comments to her before like “your shirt is on backwards” or “your nightgown is on backwards”.

If it is the morning before school, she will go back to her bedroom and fix it.

If it is nighttime, she usually replies with “it doesn’t bother me.”

There’s a new rule.

We had somewhere formal we had to be tonight, and her uniform was on inside out.

Later in the evening, she came out to the living room after taking a shower, and her pajamas were on backwards.

I told her “from now on you need to wear your clothes correctly and not backwards.”

She then asks me why I care?

She explained her reasoning.

And I said because you should know how to put on your clothes correctly?

My husband says “I don’t really understand why you care so much either but okay if you want it enforced, I’ll enforce it.”

And I looked at them both and said “our job as your parents is to teach you how to be, live, and function in the world. Putting your clothes on correctly is a skill we should have been able to teach you by now. If you’re going out into the world with clothes on backwards, it’s a reflection of our parenting that we don’t care to tell you or teach you how to do it correctly.”

My husband then backs me up and tells her she needs to listen to what I say.

Her husband doesn’t really agree with her reasoning.

But after she goes to bed my husband brings it up again and tells me he doesn’t understand why it matters to me so much. He brings up the fact that I got pierced as a teenager and how that could be seen as a reflection of MY mother’s parenting but how I didn’t care about that AS a teenager.

I responded that I’m not directing her style, that I’m simply asking her to wear her clothes in the CORRECT way.

He brought up her wanting to wear something later in life that I don’t approve of.

I said hypothetically if she wears something revealing then we will have a conversation about safety, but again, I’m not trying to tell her what her style is or isn’t, I’m asking for clothes to be forward facing.

She assumes her daughter isn’t intentionally putting her clothes on backwards.

And then I say “wearing your clothes backwards has never been and never will be in style.

He says he views it like a kid cutting off their jeans or cut off shirts.

I express if she ever made it seem like it was INTENTIONAL then maybe the conversation would have been different. The only time she’s ever said anything is when she wears my t-shirts to bed because she says they fit better that way.

Her husband thinks she might be intentionally putting her clothes on backwards.

And my husband tells me he thinks she doesn’t like her clothes hanging down lower on her chest.

And I said if she ever directly told me that then it would be a totally different conversation of getting her clothes that fit differently.

He was like IMMA ASK HER TOMORROW. AMITAH?

Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal. It sounds like her daughter is quick to put on the clothes correctly when it’s pointed out, so it’s not like she’s being disobedient. It could be good to know if she is putting them on backwards on purpose though. Maybe there’s a bigger issue with her daughter not liking the way her clothes fit.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This is true!

This is a good point!

It IS intentional!

Nobody is on this mom’s side.

This is not a battle worth fighting.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.