Dad Gives His Teenage Son Money For His Graduation Party, But Then Demands It Back
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If you ever happen to find yourself in a situation where you’re a divorced parent, take this story as a lesson of what not to do.
In this story, we hear from a teenage boy who has very good reasons to be mad at his dad. His parents are divorced, and he shares multiple examples of times his dad made it clear that he prioritized his stepdad over his own son.
Now that he’s graduating from high school, his dad gave him some money, but then he decided to give it back.
Keep reading for all the details and to see if you think the teen did anything wrong.
AITA for giving my dad his money back in front of his other kids and telling him he was no longer welcome at my graduation?
My graduation ceremony is being held next week.
My dad had given me some money in advance to pay for the party.
I live mostly with my mom but they were supposed to be hosting the event together.
He’s not very close to his dad.
Dad and I have a rocky relationship.
After my parents divorced when I was 4 they split custody of me and he was able to stay a good dad.
When I was 10 he met Jane. Jane had three kids, twins and a single kid.
They got married when I was 12 but I would say even before that I felt like he prioritized her kids over me a lot.
He really does seem to prioritize the younger kids.
He would cancel plans with me if they wanted to do something and would either do the thing with them or force me to go and say it was even better than our plans, when for me it wasn’t.
Think going for a hike with me vs taking them to an indoor play area. Or seeing a movie with me vs the kiddie park.
One more example is when I was given a ticket for a concert my dad and I both love. He was supposed to buy a ticket to come with me for some father/son time, but actually spent it on his youngest stepkid who wanted their room painted.
He told me at the last minute and it hurt.
This next example is even worse.
There are other times stuff like this happened.
He didn’t show up at the hospital when I broke my arm because one stepkid was getting their tonsils out and wanted both him and his wife there.
He told my mom over the phone to tell me he was proud of me for being brave and understanding, even though I never said that stuff.
When I would bring this stuff up to him he’d tell me it was natural to feel jealous of sharing his attention. That was all he would say.
Here’s another example of when his dad didn’t come through for him.
In 2019 he told my mom he would split the cost of a trip I wanted to go on with one of my clubs, because she didn’t have the money all by herself.
Mom had her half saved. We told my dad he needed to pay.
He said bills were tight and it was the twins birthdays and the money needed to go on something for them. He told me we could do something as a family when the trip happened instead.
I told him to forget it. That he was making it clear who was more important and I was going to stay with my mom where I actually mattered.
Mom borrowed money to cover the other half of the trip.
Now, to the graduation money…
Dad told me he regretted making me feel less important and we were working on things and then the graduation money was given about a month ago.
Then a week ago he called and told me how one of the stepkids was being bullied, how bad of a time they’re having it, and with that money they could help cheer them up for their birthday.
I was mad. I hung up. Then two days later I showed up at his doorstep, gave him the money and told him I didn’t want to see him or his new family at my graduation, and that he had chosen who was more important so he better stay out of my life.
His stepkids and two younger bio kids were there.
It wasn’t over.
I didn’t stick around.
He called and told me we needed to talk it out like adults, and that I had hurt the kids feelings.
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His wife freaked out on me so I blocked her.
AITA?
His dad is awful. He hasn’t been there for him, and he does prioritize the younger kids. But was it wrong for him to give the money back the way he did?
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person doesn’t think the teen did anything wrong.
Another person shares their opinion.
This person thinks he did the right thing.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about two kids trying to earn money by mowing grass, and decide to solve their gas issue by stealing some of dad’s.
Here’s some praise for OP’s mom.
His mom really does sound amazing. He’s lucky to have her in his life. She definitely cares about him and goes above and beyond for him.
His dad on the other hand, not so much. His dad sounds truly awful.
I think he handled the situation well. His dad really owes him an apology.
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