Photo: Marian Fil / Shutterstock
Her husband sounds like he needed to be taught a lesson.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Feb 24, 2022
A woman went to Reddit’s AITA (Am I The A-hole?) thread to ask people if she was in the wrong for punishing her son after he stole his stepfather's bible.
The woman started by writing that her husband and her son fight a lot. She tries to help out, however, her husband asks her to stay out of it while they work it out by themselves.
She further wrote that every time they both argue, her husband comes up with a new nickname for her son that is less than endearing.
She wrote, “Nicknames like ‘dipstick, Stone cold [embarrassment], assclown, imbecile, dweeb etc…’”.
The woman’s son didn’t find it amusing at all and warned his stepfather that he would throw away something he owned if he did this again.
However, that didn’t have any effect on the husband as he continued to call him names and did it once in front of the son’s friends.
The woman wrote that her son had enough of this and stole her husband's Bible.
“My husband later called me panicking saying my son took his Bible after their fight and refused to give it back,” the woman wrote.
The woman went home and talked it out with her son about the fight. Her son voiced his opinions about how her husband had embarrassed him in front of his friends.
The woman agreed that it wasn’t wise of him to do so and that she would talk to him later. She did, however, request that he give the bible back as it was a part of her husband’s faith and religion.
The son refused and claimed that he had thrown it out. This didn’t sit well with the woman and she decided to punish him.
She wrote, “I punished him and took his allowance for the rest of the month.”
The woman’s son argued that it was her husband who had started it and it wasn’t fair that he got punished instead. However, the woman didn’t listen to him and went to her husband to talk about it.
The woman wrote, “My husband promised this all will stop if my son gets properly punished for what he did and I let him know he got his punishment.”
This didn’t end here as the woman’s son took the matters further and called his grandmother. After hearing everything, the grandmother was angry and wanted to visit the woman.
However, the woman didn’t let her come to the house. After that, the grandmother texted and called the woman several times.
The woman wrote, “She texted that I was being unfair and just wrong for punishing my son. I replied that he did something worth punishing and [no matter] who started what, throwing away stuff isn't okay.”
The comments from many internet users suggest that the woman is wrong and that her husband is abusing her son.
One user wrote, “Why would you take your [husband's] side over your [son's] in the first place? Secondly, your husband sounds like a TOXIC and ABUSIVE adult. Lastly, you’re turning a blind eye to abuse.”
Another user commented, “Calling someone insulting and degrading names is not an acceptable way of working out a disagreement with a teenager, especially if you’re an adult and authority figure.”
Many users also suggested that instead of punishing her son, the woman should help him as he is just a teenager.
One user commented, “Punishing your kid is also not a great one in this situation. I would agree that talking about this behavior is needed, but not right now…One way to throw up a sign that he needs help.”
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.