One mom shared how she made her daughter cry on her birthday, but not for obvious reasons.
Taking to AITA on Reddit, the woman wrote she has four children, 23, 20, 16, and 13. “Zara,” as she called her oldest, celebrated a birthday and “has been going through a bit of a difficult time, so we decided to throw her a surprise party.”
Zara’s “5-year-old niece blew” almost all the candles during the family gathering. With a few left, the mom told Zara to “blow those out.”
She did, but “she looked angry and started crying.”
Things got awkward, and everyone tried to comfort the 5-year-old niece and her mom. The mother shared she “talked to Zara and told her she was being a selfish brat and making a scene.”
But, all the other children thought that the mother was unfair, so she took to Reddit to ask the infamous question.
Later, we learned that Zara was grieving the death of her partner, which was not in the original post, and it angered many Reddit posters.
One of the most upvoted comments gave more insight into the situation, and to make matters worse, the couple would have gotten engaged.
It was followed by a post saying, “It must be exhausting to live in a family where even on your birthday, your feelings aren’t important, and they aren’t really celebrating you.”
Another person wrote, “This isn’t an incident to upset her, but it could very well be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
This Reddit poster hopes the mother will apologize, “I hope OP can at least tell his daughter he loves her and that he’s sorry things are rough for her right now. “
Another shared, “This party was thrown specifically because she’s been having a hard time, and OP is shocked she reacted so negatively.”
A poster said, “5 years old is old enough to be acting with intent, and I’m willing to bet the candles aren’t the real underlying issue.”
Reddit users did not spare the mother, and many agreed that despite being 23, it was Zara’s party. This Reddit user chimed in, “She can’t be called a brat for wanting to do something intended for her to do.”
The highlighter reply said, “The adults responsible for the younger children really should have anticipated this and kept them away from the cake.”
Many did not like how the 5-year-old acted, “What’s with the parents not parenting their kids?”
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The vast majority expressed that the original poster was in the wrong. They also felt bad for Zara since “she is grieving, and not even her parents are there to support her.”
Another said, “Poor daughter is grieving, and this is how OP reacts? I can’t imagine how OP treats her during normal times.”
More people came after the original poster, “Even if she wasn’t going through a hard time, your niece should not have been allowed to do that.”
With over 7k comments, only a handful tried to express some sympathy for the mother, though they, too, did not like how she treated her grieving daughter.
Do you agree that the Reddit community was right to defend Zara and call out the mother?