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Usually, being a child doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want without someone correcting you.
One father dealt with that after seeing a boy throw an order of ribs into a creek at Hersheypark.
As you’d expect, the food immediately attracted the ducks, geese, and fish nearby, so he told a park employee what happened.
Then, the boy’s grandmother defended him and pointed out that he was only a child.
When the father explained why that wasn’t an excuse, she blamed him for ruining their day.
Read on to see who you think was wrong in this situation.
AITA for “ruining” a kid’s day at HersheyPark?
Today, my family and I went to Hersheypark to enjoy some rides. We stopped to eat around 1:30 p.m. near the barbecue restaurant in the park. The seating area is right next to a small creek that runs through the park.
After we had sat down to eat our food, my son (3) was walking around looking at the ducks. Two young boys at the table behind us were eating, and I happened to see the older of the two accidentally drop his order of ribs.
He then proceeded to pick it up and throw it into the creek next to us, making the ducks, geese, and fish all go after it. I immediately pointed it out to my group and went to tell a park employee.
Then, the grandma tried to use the most basic excuse.
A few moments later, the children’s grandmother came back to their table, and the boys told her what happened. She turned to us and tried defending him, saying, “He dropped it, and it got debris on it, and so he…”
I interrupted to point out that the trash cans were literally 10 feet in the other direction and that it’s about respect for the park. She then said, “He’s just a child,” as if that’s a clean slate for all actions.
I politely told her that children who do that will turn into adults who do that. They gathered their things and left a couple of minutes later, with the grandmother saying, with a fully ******-off smile, “Thanks for ruining our day.”
AITA?
Wow! This whole thing sounds like a mess.
Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit think he should’ve handled it.
This person thinks he was right for protecting the animals.
According to this comment, that’s not what he did.
Here’s a reader who thinks he handled it poorly.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a friend who is upset they missed out on cheap festival passes due to her pal’s indecision.
This is such a valid point.
It’s understandable why he spoke up because that food wasn’t safe for the animals.
However, going straight to a park employee may have taken things a little too far.
He probably could’ve explained why throwing food into the creek was a problem and left it there.
The bottom line is that if no one in the boy’s family was going to correct him, someone needed to say something.
