Daughter Invited Herself On Parent’s 40th Anniversary Vacation So They Can Babysit The Kids. So Dad Tricks Her And Travels To Another Place Entirely.
by Matthew Gilligan
This is an intense one!
But what do you expect from Reddit’s “Am I the *******?” page?
It consistently brings the heat!
And this one is will really get you cookin’.
The man who wrote it said that all the drama happened because of a planned vacation.
AITA for abandoning my daughter on vacation?
“My wife and I have always dreamed of celebrating our 40th anniversary with a luxurious vacation. Just the two of us, reliving the romance of our early years.
We had it all planned out for years now and were excited beyond words.
Someone had their own plans.
Enter our adult daughter Jane.
Jane and her husband got wind of our plans and promptly invited themselves and their two children (9F, 5M) along.
I originally put my foot down and told them this trip was just for us which upset her some.
They caved into their daughter’s demand.
But my wife has a hard time saying no to Jane, as she is the youngest of our children and our only daughter, and she didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so she reluctantly agreed to let them join.
I wasn’t thrilled about it at the time, but I wanted to make my family happy, and I knew my wife was also okay with the idea of a “family” trip even if she was heartbroken we wouldn’t get our romantic trip. We went along with it.
They even picked another place to stay.
The place we were originally going was not child friendly so we changed course and decided on an all inclusive family friendly resort. We paid for the resort and our grandchildren’s plane tickets. Jane and her husband only had to pay for their own airfare.
He started thinking more about it…
Here’s where things get complicated. As the vacation got closer, I started having a change of heart.
I realized that our 40th anniversary was a once-in-a-lifetime milestone, and I wanted to honor it in a way that was true to our original plans.
My wife and I might not be able to afford a trip like this again for quite some time and it’s something we always wanted to do.
And he decided to take action.
So, without consulting anyone, I switched our tickets last minute to go to the romantic destination that my wife and I had originally planned for.
I did not tell Jane or her husband. I didn’t even tell my wife until the day before our flight left, which was a day before Jane’s flight left for their vacation.
It wasn’t an easy decision and I feel guilty about it. But I wanted our 40th anniversary to be the special, intimate celebration we had always hoped for.
His daughter wasn’t happy about this turn of events.
We called Jane after we landed to tell her and she was extremely upset to say the least. She thought we were going to look after our grandkids so she and her husband could have alone time and now that I abandoned her they would have to do it all themselves. I hung up on them when my son in law started shouting and my wife and I enjoyed the rest of our trip.
They came back the same day we did but have not answered any of our texts and Jane seems to be ignoring me.
Now there’s a lot of tension.
My wife told me she vastly preferred our trip to the family trip we would have taken but she still doesn’t like how Jane is mad at us and wants me to apologize. I’m not sure I want to after learning Jane and her husband were using us for free babysitting and a free trip but I feel like I should just to keep the peace.
Am I the ******* for changing our trip destination last minute and leaving Jane and her family to fend for themselves?”
And here’s what people had to say.
This person said he’s NTA at all.
Another reader agreed and said they were trying to sabotage him.
This Reddit user said they can go have their own family trip.
One individual said he needs to set some limits with them.
And this person nailed it!
I wouldn’t want to watch a bunch of kids on vacation, either.
But that’s just my opinion!
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.