If your father died when you were a child and you had a toy that he had given to you when you were a baby, do you think you’d treasure that toy for the rest of your life, or would you eventually be okay with passing it on to another child?

In this story, one teeange girl has a Simba toy that her dad gave her, and after he died, she treasured that toy more than ever. The problem is that her mom and stepdad don’t understand just how important this toy is to her and seem to think she’s overreacting.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for causing my mom distress by ignoring her because she took my Simba plushy from my bed that my dead dad got me and gave it to my half sister without asking?

My dad bought me a Simba plushy before I (F17) was even born. He was a huge Lion King fan and wanted to share that with me.

I used to bring Simba everywhere and I had help keeping it in really good condition.

I slept with it every night and when my dad died I used to wrap some of his clothes around Simba so he’d smell like dad.

I slept with Simba in my bed every night, even up until my mom took it.

Her mom decided to get remarried.

5 years ago my relationship with mom changed.

She had decided to settle down again with the guy she’s now married to.

After dad it had just been the two of us but she had dated some. She was dating a few guys at the same time when she made the decision to settle down.

Two I knew. The guy she’s married to and a guy she broke up with to be with her husband.

She wishes her mom had chosen differently.

I liked the other guy.

We got along pretty well and he was nice. He respected my space when it came to stuff about dad.

I never liked her husband.

He’s probably not a bad guy but he doesn’t respect my space when it comes to stuff about dad and even when he and mom weren’t serious he would try to take on a parental role with stuff like telling me what to do, or trying to say what I should do, and even talking about classes I should take in high school that he believed were better for the future.

It seems pretty cruel to tell a child there’s no space left for their late father.

My mom knew I didn’t really like her husband and liked the other guy.

She told me she liked her husband more and I needed to accept that. Then she told me she wanted me to make it work with him and build a close familial relationship with him.

She told me once they were married there was no space with dad stuff. That he’ll be a full functioning member of the household and nothing can be out of bounds for him.

Then she told me he’d be my new functioning father and it didn’t make sense to lock him out of my grief.

At least the therapist stopped them from throwing her dad’s stuff away.

The three of us did therapy together but it made me dislike him more.

He wanted to give away stuff of dad’s that mom hung onto and throw the rest in the garbage and said that I had Simba from dad so I didn’t need more to cling onto a memory of someone.

The therapist got mom to agree not to. But even the suggestion from him that he could decide what I did and didn’t need or should and shouldn’t have from dad really ticked me off.

My mom told me to please look at more than that but she knew it made my opinion of her husband worse and it fractured our relationship because she was mad at me and I was disappointed that she couldn’t understand.

Their family changed again.

She had my half sister 3 years ago.

That was another point in our relationship where things changed for the worse because I am entirely indifferent to my half sister being born and her birth was not some happy occasion for me.

Two months ago my mom had a miscarriage when she was 17 weeks pregnant.

She decided she was done being pregnant before she miscarried but she was advised to keep that decision by her doctors.

So mom’s been grieving and struggling.

How could her mother be so heartless?

Almost a month ago I came home from school and my half sister had Simba.

My mom said she had gone into my room and taken it off my bed because my half sister wanted him after mom left the door open and she didn’t see the harm because a child will get more out of a toy like him anyway.

I told her she gave away the one thing her husband considered fine for me to have from dad.

She looked like I slapped her.

Why doesn’t her mom get it?

I told her Simba had been with me my whole life. Dad bought him for me, not her kid with that jerk she calls a husband.

Mom tried to defend her choice but I told her not to talk to me.

She tried talking to me a few times over the next 4 or 5 days but she got no response from me.

Then she tried to give me Simba back.

At least her mom finally tried to make it right.

He was covered in drool and there was a tear in him.

I pointed out the condition he was in without speaking and refused to engage.

Mom started getting really distressed.

She had him washed and she took him to someone who closed the tear. But it wasn’t enough for me to forgive her or talk to her again.

Her grandma tried to help.

She sent in my grandma last week to talk to me and ask how long this will continue.

I told grandma after what mom did I don’t see a point in pretending I still want her in my life. I told her our relationship changed when she chose her husband and it’s been downhill from there. That my mom showed me just how much I mattered to her.

I said mom hadn’t asked because she knew what I’d say, she knew that Simba was something I treasured and that given her husband’s comments about dads stuff and Simba, she had to know it made her giving it away worse.

And I said she made it worse by trying to give me him back torn and covered in her daughter’s slobber.

Her stepdad made it worse.

Grandma asked if I’d go to some therapy with my mom to try and work it out or at least let mom talk to me.

And I said I can’t stop her talking but I don’t have to listen.

A few days after that my mom’s husband stormed into my room and called me a selfish witch who was causing mom so much distress after she’s been through every mother’s nightmare already and already suffered so much in her life. He told me I treated his child like a disease by acting so repulsed by her having Simba for a short while.

At least her mom stood up for her.

I told him to get out of my room.

And he told me to get out of his house.

Mom heard and stopped him and said I was not being kicked out. B

ut because I just shut my door he started yelling more about how awful I’m being to mom.

I don’t really care what he has to say. But I can see my mom’s not doing good. So I want to ask AITA?

Her mom messed up, and her stepdad is horrible for not having any compassion on the fact that this girl lost her father. I wonder if she could live with her grandmother.

Let’s see what Reddit thinks of this story.

She really needs to protect Simba.

Here’s a recommendation to prepare to leave home.

Simba might not be safe at her house.

This woman can relate to her story.

Her mom really messed up.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.