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Imagine being all grown up but living with your dad while you finish going to school. If you and your dad both have a dog, would you walk your dogs together or separately?

In this story, a young woman is in this situation, and she has no probably walking her dog at the same time her dad walks his dog. However, her dad has a new favorite park, and it ends up taking a lot more time out of her day when they walk there instead of going to a closer park.

Her dad doesn’t seem flexible at all when she tries to explain how busy she is, so she’s left wondering if she should just do what her dad wants instead of sticking up for what she wants.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for telling my dad no?

I (21F) am living with my dad (50M) and younger brother (20M) while finishing school.

I recently started a new job as an educational assistant at a school 30 minutes away from home.

Before this, I worked two part-time jobs, often totaling up to 15 hours a day, in addition to attending school and managing household chores.

They have pet dogs.

I love walking my dogs, but they are highly dog-aggressive, so I usually take them out at night to avoid other dogs.

My dad found a park that my dogs enjoy, which requires a 10-minute walk through a mesa.

I don’t mind helping him with this, but he tends to stay there for at least an hour to let the dogs run.

This is annoying.

One night, after a particularly long shift at both of my jobs, I nearly tripped on a rock, and when my dad asked if I was okay, I mentioned I was exhausted from working all day.

He dismissed my feelings, saying, “You don’t know exhaustion; you’re only 20.”

I let it go and continued with the walk.

But her dad starting complaining.

Later, as we were walking, he complained that if I weren’t so lazy, we would’ve left for the park around 9:30 PM as he had planned.

I reminded him that I had worked nearly 16 hours that day and needed sleep to avoid missing my early morning alarm.

He insisted I didn’t understand true exhaustion.

Despite my attempts to stay calm, it was getting late—almost 10:30 PM—so I told him he needed to respect my schedule. I gave him the option to either come with me or stay out as long as he wanted while I took my dog home.

He grudgingly agreed to come with me.

Her dad really likes this new park.

Since then, whenever he asks where I want to go, he expects me to choose the new park, which usually involves staying out later than I’m comfortable with.

I suggest a closer park for a quicker outing so that if I need to leave, it’s an easy walk back with my dog.

He’s called me a wussy and shown annoyance, though nothing too severe.

I’m not sure why her dad is upset.

Recently, he asked where I wanted to go in the morning, and I suggested the new park with a different path to avoid stickers, cacti, and rocks.

He exploded, calling me a jerk for saying no and claiming that he rarely asks anything of me.

I explained that I had to prioritize my rest due to my previous demanding schedule and that walking the dogs earlier would make it manageable for me.

He didn’t agree, preferring to go out later.

He didn’t like her suggestion.

I suggested that if he wanted to stick to his plan, I would walk my dog separately so there wouldn’t be any mix-up.

He then stormed off, calling me a jerk.

AITA for setting boundaries and prioritizing my own schedule and rest over my dad’s preference for park visits?

Her dad is acting pretty childish. She’s busy. The new park may be great, but it doesn’t work for her schedule to go there every night.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person has a question.

Another person has a suggestion.

Here’s a vote for doing what works for her.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who thinks her daughter should have planned a whole two-week vacation around her needs.

This is a good idea.

I wonder what’s more important to her dad, going to this new park or walking the dogs together. It seems that he can’t have both, at least not every night. They need to reach a compromise if they’re going to keep walking the dogs together. Either that, or they need to walk the dogs separately.