It’s common for teenagers to experience ups and downs with school attendance, especially after being sick.

But when one teen’s mother treated his school absence like the end of the world, he couldn’t help but feel like she was putting more stress on him than he really deserved.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for not agreeing with my mom that I intentionally school?

I (15M) recently had Fall Break, so I had a week off from school.

Over that week, I developed a sore throat and an ear infection. This inevitably caused me to miss school on Monday, which my parents agreed was rational.

But this sickness soon came with unintended backlash.

However, just recently, I woke up to find that I had slept through my alarms and already missed my first period.

When I decided to notify my mom that I had woken up late and might not make it to school on time, she started berating me.

His mom was very determined to make a huge deal out of this.

She said that I didn’t want to go to school anymore, that break had made me someone who wants to stay home all day, and that I’d soon be like my sisters, who are both struggling mentally due to the pressure from their job schedules.

She was being quite harsh with her word choices.

She then proceeded to head back to sleep, telling me that I could stay home and just play games, and called me a failure.

He doesn’t agree with his mother’s assessment at all.

I disagree with her, as I really want to succeed in school so I can get a decent-paying job and help support my family financially, but now I feel like questioning myself.

AITA for disagreeing with her?

It kinda seems like this mom is projecting some of her stress.

What did Reddit make of all this?

His mom appears to be making a mountain out of a molehill with this one.

Sometimes our bodies don’t bounce back quite as quick as we expect them to.

One sick day really isn’t that big of a deal.

Maybe his mom’s stress isn’t really about him at all.

Teenagers need time to recover, and his mom’s harsh words only end up hurting more than they’re helping.

Needing time to rest doesn’t make you lazy or unmotivated. It makes you human.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.