She Corrected A Mom Who Claimed Ear Stretching Should Hurt, But Now She’s Second-Guessing Speaking Up
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Parents don’t always want their kids to hear the full truth, especially when they’re trying to discourage something.
One 38-year-old woman ran into that while hanging out with a group of friends and their kids.
At one point, a teenager asked if stretching your ears hurts, which was something she knew plenty about.
Before she could answer, though, the girl’s mom jumped in and said it hurts a lot.
Well, the woman corrected her and explained that it really shouldn’t hurt if it’s done slowly and properly, but the mom clearly wasn’t happy about it.
Keep reading to see how it all played out.
AITA for not lying to my friend’s daughter about my ears
I (F38) have had large earrings (14 mm) since I was a teenager. A while back, I was at a gathering with multiple friends and our kids.
One of the kids, who was about 12–14, asked me if it hurt to stretch my ears.
Her mom immediately jumped in and said, “Yes, it hurts a whole lot.”
Not really thinking, she corrected the mother.
I said, “No, actually, if you do it slowly and correctly, it really doesn’t hurt at all. It’s just really important that you do it right.”
The mom, who’s a friend of my friend and… sort of my friend, but more of an acquaintance, was visibly annoyed at me for this interaction. The subject was changed rather quickly by another friend, and we moved on.
My issue is primarily that I don’t lie.
But also, if a kid thinks it’s supposed to hurt, then they won’t know there’s a problem if they start to stretch their ears and it hurts. That could cause them to experience serious damage where they otherwise wouldn’t.
Though it was a bad decision, she had reasons for speaking up.
I know several people who’ve had that experience, and I thought it would be irresponsible of me to be dishonest about this situation in the moment, given the possibility of a painful outcome for the child.
At the same time, I feel bad because it really should’ve been obvious to me in the moment that the mom wanted to deter her child from making the choice to stretch their ears, and the child was young enough that their mom really did have that power over them.
I’m autistic, so I think this may be a situation where I grossly misread things, and I would like to know if I should apologize.
AITA?
Eek. This one could really go either way depending on who you ask.
Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about it.
This person thinks the mother is blessed.
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Here’s a different way to look at it.
According to this comment, you don’t have to lie.
These are good thoughts.
This mom put her in a weird position.
She was obviously trying to discourage her daughter, but saying it’s supposed to hurt isn’t really the way to do that.
If the girl ever tries it anyway, she needs to know that pain could mean something is wrong.
Next time, the mom should just explain why she doesn’t want her doing it instead of expecting someone else to back up something that isn’t true.
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