Mom Gets Angry Emails From Parents After Only Inviting 4 Out Of Daughter's 30 Classmates To Birthday Party
Other parents are upset.
iamlukyeee | Shutterstock A mother is being defended after refusing to invite a majority of her daughter's classmates to her birthday party.
Posting to the subreddit "r/AmItheA--hole" (AITA) — a forum where users try to figure out if they were wrong or not in an argument that has been bothering them — she explained that her daughter, 8, has a birthday coming up.
In her Reddit post, the woman, 38, wrote that her daughter is shy, isn't popular, and usually prefers to sit in the library than attend "social events."
"She has 4 really good friends in her class of roughly 30 kids. I’ll add that some of her classmates are not very nice to her."
She refused to invite the majority of her daughter's classmates to her birthday party.
When she asked her daughter what she wanted to do for her upcoming birthday, she specifically asked if it could just be her mother and her four friends from school.
"This is what has been going on since she was young, we’ve never thrown an actual giant Instagram birthday party," she wrote.
The mom explained that while they're poor, they aren't rich either and live in a small apartment. For her daughter's past birthdays, she usually takes her and her friends out for ice cream, and a "paint-your-own ceramic activity."
When word got out that the woman's daughter was "having a party," she received an email from the teacher who called out the woman for her "lack of inclusivity."
"She said that she had gotten complaints from other kids in her class that my daughter was being a bully for only inviting certain people, and the teacher told me that now I had to invite the whole class."
However, the little girl's mother can't afford to throw a party with over 30 children, or try and bring the 30 students to an activity.
"I also was afraid of my daughter getting bullied at her own party and wanted this to be a safe space for her."
Instead, she "politely" explained to her daughter's teacher her expense worries if she were to throw a party with 30 children in attendance, and further pointed out that it wasn't a party at all, just a gathering with her daughter and her four friends.
The explanation didn't go down well, and after refusing to invite her daughter's classmates, the woman has begun receiving "loads of angry emails" from other parents who are "pressuring" her to invite their children.
"One even accused me of being discriminatory against their son because he has asthma," she remarked.
In total, the woman revealed that she's gotten at least "10 angry emails" and is starting to rethink excluding all of her daughter's classmates.
"I’m starting to think maybe I should invite all the kids in the spirit of inclusivity and have it in a park or something," she concluded.
Most people who commented on the woman's Reddit post agreed that she was NTA (Not The A-hole).
"You tell those parents if they had actually taught their kids to act right maybe they'd be getting invited. You have no intention of rewarding your daughter's [bullies]!!" one user wrote.
Another user added, "Your daughter's [birthday] should be about her wishes. The teacher deserves to be told to the principal. And other parents put in their place."
"The entitlement of those parents is wild. It's a private event. They can't bully their way into it. It's her party, and she can have whoever she likes," a third user chimed in.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.