A graduation ceremony is a rite of passage. It’s understandable why people want to be a part of it if they want to be in the family.

But that isn’t necessarily what the student wants. See why this young man is not happy.

AITA for not agreeing to get a third ticket for my graduation so my dad’s new wife can come?

I’ll be graduating high school in May. My parents are divorced.

My sister’s in college and I mostly live with my mom but I always had a decent relationship with dad. He got married again last month and I met her a week before the wedding (they were long distance up to that point).

Their relationship is strained.

She seemed okay but a little too much for me. What I mean by that is she kept trying to hug me when I wasn’t comfortable with it and she kept touching my sister’s hair as in stroking it.

Dad said she was just excited because she had wanted to meet us for at least three years and to cut her some slack. He was disappointed neither me or my sister made an effort to spend time with his wife outside of him since.

Now he’s angry at me because of my graduation which isn’t until May. The way my school does it is they only allow two people to attend the ceremony because it’s indoors with limited seating.

For very specific reasons some people can get a third ticket if they’re lucky. But it’s not guaranteed. My dad wants me to try and secure a third ticket so his wife can sit with him and mom.

The pressure is on.

He said she’s new to being a parent and it would make her feel bad to sit out something big like this. I told my dad his wife isn’t a new parent because she’s not raising or parenting me.

He said she’s still going to be a parental figure in mine and my sister’s lives and grandparent to our kids. And he said she deserves to be included like she’s a parent.

I told him I wasn’t jumping through all those hoops and begging for a ticket for her. I said I’d choose to have my sister there before the lady I just met a month ago.

He said she’s not just some lady, she’s my bonus mom and she’s got more rights than my sister to be there.

Dad is manipulating him to get what he wants.

I’m standing firm on no being my answer. There isn’t a way for dad to request it either.

So now he’s saying he won’t come and I told him if he won’t come because of her that’s his decision and I’ll just give the ticket to my sister.

He said it was really awful of me to not want his wife to come so bad that I would let him skip it. And I said it was awful to skip his son’s graduation for his wife, but there we have it.

He hasn’t let this go and he’s trying to make me feel bad when I just don’t. I don’t see why he has to push it this hard.

But maybe that’s because I’m an AH and that’s why I’m asking this here.

AITA?

Here is what people are saying.

Right. That would be awkward.

He’s nearly an adult so he needs to set boundaries.

Darn right.

Exactly. I wonder how she feels about this.

HUGE volumes. What a tool.

I feel sorry for this kid.

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