Raising kids is hard, and their teenage years are often the most difficult of all.

What would you do if you overheard your daughter telling her friends that she only pretends to be close with you so that she can manipulate you into getting her the things that she wants?

That is what happened to the heartbroken father in this story, so he took away all of her luxuries as a punishment, and she says that he is overreacting.

AITAH for taking away all of my daughter’s luxuries after comments that she made about me?

For context I am a single father (34M) to a teenage daughter (16F) and we’re from Scotland.

I’ve pretty much raised her myself ever since her Mother walked on the both of us when my daughter was still a toddler. Her Mother wasn’t fully committed to having a child due to how young we were at the time.

However I knew that I wanted this baby girl in my life and I was determined to go through whatever hardships were thrown my way. Then the eventuality came, and her Mother left us and hasn’t factored into our lives ever since.

Being close with your children is a blessing.

Fast forward to the present day and I’ve developed a wonderful relationship with my daughter. She’s the only person who has factored into my life for these past 16 years, and every decision that I’ve made, I’ve made for her.

There has been challenges along the way, and some very difficult times. But we’ve always managed to get through them, and I believe that I’ve done a good job in the role of both her father and her mother.

He has been a great parent it seems like.

She’s very articulate, well behaved and polite. She is honestly the best daughter that I could’ve ever asked for. And we’re incredibly close, too, due to it being just the two of us. She has always been what they would call a ‘Daddy’s Girl’.

All of my disposable income has always gone towards father/daughter days out together, buying her things whenever she has asked for them. Though always within reason and budget, and with conditions such as that she does well in school.

Teenagers will always present challenges.

Everything seemed perfect, till recently. A few weeks ago, a few of her best friends were over for the weekend.

My daughter and her friends have known each other since their infant school days. They must’ve assumed that I was too far out of earshot, because when my daughter’s friends were talking about how envious they are of her, and how lucky she is for having a Dad who loves her and will do anything for her.

The words that came out of my daughter’s mouth felt like swords piercing my heart.

This would be very painful to hear.

She started laughing, as she told her friends about how easy it is for her to behave like a loving daughter, so that she can get anything that she wants from me. My daughter and her friends then all laughed together and made further jokes about how easily she can manipulate me.

Hearing these words coming from the mouth of the one person who I’ve dedicated my life to has been the hardest anguish that I’ve ever felt, and it feels as though she has physically ripped my heart from my chest.

Of course he does.

I have feelings of hurt, betrayal and humiliation from the one person who I never expected would put me through this.

After her friends left, I sat down for dinner with my daughter and I asked her what she meant when she told her friends that she behaves like a loving daughter just so that she can get anything that she wants from me.

She knows she’s been caught.

In that instant I saw the look in her face that reminded me of a deer in headlights. She initially didn’t know what to say. But after a few moments, the look on her face turned to one of ashamed as she tried to apologize and tell me that she didn’t mean any of the words that she said.

I don’t believe that she is sorry or ashamed for her manipulation and lack of respect. I feel that she’s only sorry about being caught.

These are very reasonable punishments.

As punishment, I have taken away the luxuries that I have been spending on her. Such as subscription services to Netflix, Crunchyroll, etc. I’ve replaced her contract phone with a simple phone that is ‘Pay As You Go’ (so that she can still contact people in an emergency), and I’ve also cancelled bookings for upcoming father/daughter days that I had planned with her.

Barring the basic necessities that I need to provide for her as her Father such as food, clothing, a roof over her head, money for transportation to school and money for school supplies.

What she said may have already damaged the relationship.

My daughter feels that I am being incredibly unfair towards her and she has told me that this will permanently damage our relationship together.

Which of course I do fear it could cause an irreparable damage to our relationship and that I will ultimately lose the one remaining person that I have left.

Well, that is what she said. But kids do say things just to get attention from their friends sometimes.

However I feel as though this is a fair punishment. She has taken advantage of my love for her and manipulated me to get everything that she wants. Whilst also disrespecting me by laughing about how easy I am for getting everything that she wants.

I am just looking for opinions from those out of my immediate circle. Because this entire ordeal has scrambled my entire head and has left my heart torn in two by the one person who I never thought would break it.

AITA?

She should absolutely be punished for what she said, even if she was just being over the top for her friends. Taking away the daddy-daughter dates, however, might be going to far.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Counseling can be helpful.

Parenting can be so difficult.

Kids love being edgy around their friends.

Here is someone who thinks he reacted poorly.

I agree with this commenter.

Kids can be cruel sometimes, which makes parenting difficult.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.