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Different parents make different choices, especially when money, independence, and social opportunities all collide at once.
One mom buys her daughter an electric bike, but when her niece must save for hers, would you change your parenting to keep things “fair”?
The purchase suddenly creates tension between two families, even though each parent is trying to teach a very different lesson.
See why one summer bike became a bigger debate about fairness.
AITAH for giving my daughter and electric bike to spend time with friends when my niece has to save for one?
My daughter (f13) is going to be going to a school in a different district once summer break is over.
The new school is the same one her cousin (f14) goes to, and she introduced my daughter to some of her friends.
And with summer comes summer outdoor activities…
They’ve hung out a couple times at various houses. But now that it’s hot, everyone just wants to go to the beach down the coast a bit.
No one is around to just drive the kids throughout the day, though, and it is too far and too hilly to get to on a regular bike.
Enter: The Electric Bike.
It started off with just a couple of the kids getting electric bikes and riding down there, but soon all of the kids had electric bikes.
So, of course, my daughter and my niece wanted to get electric bikes, too.
Now, this is where things get kinda awkward…
My sister told her daughter that she had to save up money to earn an electric bike.
I decided to just buy my daughter an electric bike.
The reason being that she has a hard time making friends and is more of an introvert. So, I think it’s really important to support and encourage her wanting to go out and socialize and have good experiences with friends.
But the sister and niece? Not happy.
Both my sister and my niece are upset by me getting her the bike.
My niece because she thinks it’s unfair that my daughter just gets an electric bike without having to do anything. Also, because my daughter will get to hang out with her friend group while she gets left out.
My sister is annoyed because she also thinks it’s unfair and makes her look like the bad guy when she’s just trying to teach her daughter an important lesson about earning and saving, and I should do the same for my daughter.
I’ll add, though, that my daughter is already good about saving.
Does Reddit think this is fair? Let’s read the comments below to get an idea.
One Redditor noted that these parenting choices will differ throughout life.
People echoed that sentiment, saying that life “is not fair”.
Another Redditor offered an alternative that could be a win-win.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose mom thinks he should give the home he saved for to his “more deserving” sister.
And finally, one Redditor pondered if the same opinionated nature was allowed to be applied in reverse.
She bought the e-bike because her introverted daughter was finally making friends and needed transportation to join them.
Her sister preferred making her own daughter save, then blamed OP for making that lesson harder to enforce.
Different parenting styles can coexist, but apparently the bike lane between them needed better traffic control.
