Things get tricky when your parents aren’t on good terms. Sometimes the kids get stuck in the middle.

In today’s story, one guy’s mother kept using him to manipulate his father.

Eventually, he stopped reacting to his mother’s affection, but now he’s not sure if he’s reacting the right way or not.

Check out the full story!

AITA for not smiling at my mom after she left with my siblings

To start things off, I don’t really know what’s going on with my parents.

Ever since I was a kid my mom would always suddenly try to leave our house and do stuff but this time is the first time she succeeded.

This is where it gets bad…

So a few days ago, I was watching a movie, and my mom started packing up things and I asked her where she was going.

She told me to come with her for 2 days and that it’s going to be a vacation, but when I asked her where she didn’t tell me.

I’ve known her for so long that I knew she was leaving because of problems involving my dad.

He wanted to be left away from drama.

I said no though.

Both my siblings were going and I didn’t wanna leave my dad because I didn’t want him to be lonely. I also didn’t want to be seen as if I picked sides so I just tried to keep away from it.

My dad came home and found out everyone was gone. I thought he would have lashed out but he just looked sad with the groceries he bought for my siblings.

He left some time after to look for them.

His dad asked where his mom was.

He called me a few times asking me if I knew where my mom was and telling me to text her to ask where she was.

He sounded so disappointed when he asked me why I didn’t know where she was.

It stung lol.

They were able to finally contact them…

My dad came home. I heard him calling with my mom.

Judging from what I heard, my dad was able to talk to her while he was searching for them and that they’d come home the next day.

They did come home and she was smiling and told me I should have come.

I don’t remember what I said but it was along the lines of I have stuff to do which was actually true.

He doesn’t like being kissed.

After that, my mom kept trying to get close with me, constantly kissing me. It was the type of kisses that were disgusting and felt like they left saliva.

I’ve always told her that I was uncomfortable with it but she never listens.

I avoided her a few times after that, by leaving after 5 to 7 minutes that she was there because she kept trying to do that.

It was never this bad before.

He’s avoiding his mom.

She keeps asking me if I have a problem with her in an angry voice that I really dislike.

I’m not sure what to do.

I haven’t been smiling at her these past couple days since I kept staying in my room reading.

She would knock on my door asking to see me. I always answered but would never prolong it. She asked me if I wanted to make pizza a while ago.

He isn’t really talking to his mom.

I didn’t really answer and just followed her since I was feeling so tired.

She asked me if I had a problem with her again while I was eating.

I said no and that I was just tired.

I bumped into my dad.

He actually noticed that I looked tired lol. Or maybe it was because I accidentally slept on the table lmao.

Now he wants more opinions…

I honestly don’t know what to do with my mom.

I don’t really wanna talk to her because she’s try to kiss me again and it’s so gross but she just keeps pushing my boundaries but at the same time I don’t really like frequently getting asked “do you have a problem with me?” since it’s honestly very uncomfortable.

I kinda need advice but I wanna know if it’s mean or AH-ish to not smile at your parents since I’m practicing being a better person.

Geez! That sounds rough.

Why can’t this mother try and make things better by meaningful gestures instead of annoying her kid more?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think.

This user knows the mom is being very manipulative.

This user suggests setting boundaries with the mother!

This user thinks the mother is problematic.

This user hopes everything gets better for this guy.

This person knows what the mom is trying to do!

If she were a good mom, she wouldn’t use her children against her husband!

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.