No one said raising kids was easy.

As they grow up you have to figure out when to get involved, and when to hold your tongue and let them do their own thing.

The mom in this story is struggling to navigate this boundary, thanks to an unfortunate situation between her son and his girlfriend, that seems to be dictated by her parents’ controlling behavior.

Of course, she wants to protect her son, but read on to see whether there’s more to her own behavior than meets the eye.

WIBTA if I confronted the family of my son’s girlfriend for what I consider a rude and disrespectful birthday present?

A few weeks ago, my son proposed to his girlfriend, who is 21.

We had met up to discuss it, but her parents felt she wasn’t ready to get married since she’s young, and that it’d be best to call it off. She decided to focus on going back to college.

She seemed really excited about the proposal when it happened, but at the meeting her mom wasn’t ecstatic.

She was mostly asking her daughter if she was sure she wanted this, and she asked me if I knew about it.

Uh-oh. Let’s see what happened next.

After that meeting, her mom told us it’d be best if they gave my son’s ring back to him. She called about organizing a meeting with me for me to pick it up.

My son was devastated, and I wasn’t too keen on talking to the mom. So I kind of just ignored the message.

He wanted her to keep the ring, as at least a memento, but her family wanted to return it instead.

A few days after that, we got preoccupied with something that took priority, so we couldn’t meet up to get the ring and she never mentioned it again. All during this time, his girlfriend didn’t call or text him once.

Yikes! If you thought this was bad, things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Recently was my son’s birthday, and his girlfriend didn’t wish him a happy birthday at all, which disappointed him.

But then he got a package in the mail. It was from her family. It was a card with a prayer on it that said happy birthday, and the ring.

I just find this to be so rude and disrespectful. I was appalled, they went without weeks contacting him, and then on his birthday they sent the ring back as a “gift”.

Like they couldn’t do that another time? It had to be on his birthday.

This mom found more than just a little disrespect in the gesture.

The card itself was so last minute, I can tell.

It looked like something they just had at church and wrote happy birthday on last minute. No note, nothing, just the words happy birthday, and it wasn’t even signed.

I really find that to be insulting and I am very close to calling them out.

WIBTA?

Sure, there’s nothing wrong with calling them out on this – but it’s the son who should be doing it, not his mom.

It’s quite clear that the girlfriend is being controlled by her parents, and if she was genuinely happy about the proposal, it’s really sad that her parents are standing in her way.

But if she (or they) doesn’t want to keep the ring, that’s up to them too – this really just wasn’t the nicest way to go about it.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit think about this.

This person explained that this was less a gift, more a clear gesture.

While others called this mom out too for meddling so much in her son’s relationship.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained that there was more to the situation that meets the eye.

Sure, the girlfriend is an adult is an adult, it’s disgusting that she’s being controlled in this way, if she was happy about the proposal to begin with.

But it seems that the boyfriend has a helicopter parent of his own, with his mom meddling in the tatters that was their young relationship from the start.

It’s disgusting behavior, in neither set of parents seem to be putting their kids first – with their children as the collateral.

Those poor kids.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.