It’s funny how something can mean one thing to one person and something completely different to another.

Imagine your teenager had a school event that he wanted to keep low-key, and the only reason you’re attending at all is because the school requires an adult guest.

Then imagine your son chooses another person to accompany you, but your mother ends up hurt because she feels left out. How would you handle it?

In the following story, one single mother finds herself in this exact situation and didn’t mean to hurt her mother’s feelings.

Here’s the full story.

AITA for not inviting grandma to my child’s school event/dinner

My child (17) has an end-of-school dinner/celebration. They aren’t finishing school for good; however, that particular school finishes at their current grade, and the whole grade is changing schools next year, hence the end-of-school event.

My child (who has a few social issues and has had a very rough year) didn’t want any parents attending at all. However, the school rules state that students must attend with a parent/carer/significant adult (they can bring a maximum of two).

I didn’t want to go alone, so I encouraged my child to think of someone else to invite. They don’t have much contact with their dad at the moment, so I suggested one of their grandparents (one of my parents).

Her child suggested asking a family friend.

My child was adamant that they didn’t want anyone else to come.

Days later, I asked again, and my child told me I could ask a specific family friend, knowing that person would be good company for me on the night.

However, now my mother (child’s grandmother) is very upset that she wasn’t asked and that someone from outside the family has been asked.

Her mother had a different way of looking at it.

My mother is talking about the event as a graduation and is hurt that she doesn’t get to attend her first grandchild’s graduation.

I never thought of the event in the same way, and as such, haven’t attached the same meaning to it, and therefore didn’t think that who was asked would be a big deal.

I was trying to make the event as easy as possible for my child and for me (I don’t know any other parents at the school). When my mother told me how hurt she was, I asked her to come, but she now doesn’t want to, as she wasn’t the first choice.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see why her mom’s feelings were hurt, but it wasn’t on purpose.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit feel about what happened here.

This person thinks she should focus more on her child.

According to this reader, she needs to uninvite others and just go alone.

Yet another reader who thinks she should go alone.

As this comment points out, her child will be there, so either way, she won’t be alone.

She needs to go by herself. It’s time to uninvite the other person and just go with the original plan… like her son wants.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.