Woman Questions If She Was Wrong For Making Her Nephew Cry By Taking Back His Christmas Gift & Giving It To Her Own Son
It's easy to judge this woman, but the situation is more complicated than it seems.
Soloviova Liudmyla | Shutterstock Family dynamics can be tricky to navigate at any time of year. The holidays just make it even more difficult to do so.
One woman has been left wondering if she did the right thing after getting into a fight with her sister and making her nephew cry.
Was a mom wrong to take back her nephew’s Christmas gift and give it to her son?
An anonymous mother took to Reddit to ask if she was wrong after a fight left her sister saying they would never see each other again and her nephew in tears.
Although the situation sounded bad, the story was more complicated than you might expect.
The woman explained that her son recently celebrated his 11th birthday. For the special occasion, she gave him a new gaming system. “He was absolutely thrilled and he plays nonstop,” she said.
This mom and aunt decided to make the holidays special for her nephew by giving him the same gaming system. She stated, “I already had it ready and wrapped under my tree.” This kind gesture fell apart after the woman’s sister and nephew came to visit. After the family arrived, her son asked if he and his cousin could play video games upstairs. She told him that was fine.
“About 30 minutes later my son comes running to me crying,” she wrote. “I asked him what was wrong and he led me to the front hall. When we get to the stairs I see the new system smashed on the floor. Someone had thrown it from … upstairs and it was now smashed to pieces.”
Photo: Kampus Production / Canva Pro
The woman didn’t have to look far to find the culprit. “I asked my son what happened and he sobbed and pointed at his cousin,” she explained. “I asked my nephew if he did this and he started to laugh. He said that it was a ‘stupid baby toy’ and that he saw people break them online.”
She appealed to her sister for help, but she didn’t receive any. Instead, her sister just laughed at her and blamed her for letting the cousins play “unsupervised.”
“Seeing my son sitting on the ground next to his broken system trying to put the pieces back together tore my heart out,” the mom stated. So, she decided to take action. “I walked over to the Christmas tree and grabbed the system that was meant for my nephew. I pulled the gift wrap off and [gave it to my son] and told him to go upstairs and set it up.”
When the woman’s sister and nephew caught on to what was happening, they were furious. “My nephew realized what happened and began to cry that my son had [stolen] his system,” she said. “My sister was livid and told me that I would never see them again.”
When other family members found out what had occurred, they called the woman to tell her she was in the wrong. However, she didn't see it that way. “My nephew is 13,” she said. “He is not a stupid kid and knew what he was doing. I don’t care that it was over jealousy, he is old enough to know better. My sister was not going to make the situation right so I just did what I had to do.”
People on Reddit overwhelmingly agreed with the woman.
“Your sister’s terrible parenting ruined her kid’s Christmas,” wrote one person. “He was learning a valuable life lesson and I’d say it may be better to completely cut contact off, as your sister clearly does not respect you nor your property,” commented another.
While what this woman did might seem drastic to some, it’s clear that something needed to be done to show her sister and nephew that actions have consequences. Experts agree that when it comes to disciplining teens, their actions directly dictate the punishments. The teen broke admittedly his young cousin's gaming system. Now, he loses the privilege of being gifted one for Christmas.
And, what better way to do that than to make sure her son had a working gaming system?
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.