Man Wants To Keep His Late Father’s Special Birthday Brownie Recipe Private, But His Mom And Stepdad Keep Pressuring Him
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Some family traditions carry memories far deeper than their recipes.
For this teenager, birthday brownies preserve a special connection to his late father.
His mother wants that tradition extended across their new blended family.
He would rather they create something new.
Let’s see how this one played out.
AITA for not making my paternal family’s birthday brownies for my stepfamily?
I (17M) might be TA and I figure strangers would tell me quicker than anyone.
My dad’s side of the family have these birthday brownies they make for everyone’s birthday. They’re just extra gooey and chocolatey and really freaking good.
My dad taught me before he died. But mom never learned how to make them. She’s not good with baking and she never found out the recipe before dad died.
He made them for her once or twice but she was never hugely into them since she’s not big on chocolate.
The step siblings want birthday brownies.
My mom remarried two years ago and I have two stepsiblings and a new baby half sibling.
My stepsiblings saw photos of me having birthday brownies with my dad’s side of the family and they wanted them.
This got my mom and stepdad talking and they tried to make brownies but they weren’t very good.
So then my mom asked me if I’d start doing birthday brownies with the stepfamily and make it our thing too. She said it would be a really nice way of sharing something I love with the stepfamily.
He doesn’t want to do it.
And I told her I didn’t want to share something like that with them.
My mom got upset and told me they’ll be my family for the rest of my life and wouldn’t I like to share that love of the brownies with them.
I’m just not that into my stepfamily?
They’re fine. For mom I accept them in my life. But I wouldn’t care if we never saw each other again.
He gave his mom another suggestion.
So I don’t really want to do something like this for them and I could do it for mom but that’s committing to something multiple times a year because I know she’ll want me to do it for my half sibling, both stepsiblings and her husband and who knows if they have more kids and if they want them for more than just birthdays.
I suggested she come up with something she can actually do and make it the stepfamily tradition. I told her something that doesn’t rely on me would be good.
She was upset and her husband asked me why I had to be such a stubborn child about it.
He said there’s no good reason for me to say no and I could have shared the recipe and made them happy too.
AITA?
I don’t blame him for not wanting to be the birthday baker and for wanting to keep something that was his dad’s thing to himself instead of sharing it with his stepdad and step siblings.
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Does Reddit think he’s wrong for not sharing the recipe? Let’s read the comments.
This person reassures him that not wanting to make the brownies is all the reason he needs to say no.
It would be better for his mom to start a new tradition.
This person makes a good point.
Here’s a suggestion of what to tell the stepdad.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who moved her mom in after her dad passed, but doesn’t want to fill the role of a spouse.
Or he could just tell his stepdad “no” and leave it at that.
The teenager declined to turn his late father’s tradition into a recurring responsibility for his entire stepfamily.
His mother and stepfather treated that boundary as stubbornness, despite the deeply personal memories attached to it.
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