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Her father never showed up.
By Kurtis Condra — Last updated on Oct 25, 2023
Parents are typically happy to watch their children walk across the stage to receive their diplomas at graduation time. One mother, however, is conflicted about her decision not to attend her daughter's high school graduation.
The mother chose not to attend her daughter's graduation to teach her a lesson.
The woman took to Reddit to tell her story and explain why she did what she did. The mother began her post by saying that her daughter's father was involved throughout her life when her daughter was younger. She says her daughter was a "dad's girl," but when her father remarried, everything changed.
"He barely called and just abandoned her for his new family. This was obviously hard on her and she rebelled a lot. But she went to therapy and seemed good," the mother wrote, explaining that her daughter has not seen her father since she was 12, and he speaks to her three times a year, tops. "When he calls, she believes he is now back in her life for good then he ghosts her for the remainder of the year," the mother writes.
She and her daughter have a great relationship, but when graduation came, her daughter wanted to invite her father and his son.
The mother explained that because the father doesn't like the mother, her daughter asked her not to come, believing it was the only way the father would attend.
"I angrily told her, I felt betrayed and won't forgive her for this. She just told me I have been there for many of her milestones and she wants her father to experience some too," she wrote.
The mother begged her, but she ignored her and said she was sorry but refused to change her mind. The mother was very distraught, so her sister offered to take her out during her daughter's graduation to take her mind off it, to which she agreed.
On the ceremony day, the girl's father ghosted her.
She told her daughter to make the most out of her graduation but was shocked when she was told she still was not going to her graduation now that her father was not attending.
"I told her I'm sorry that I already had plans. She then screamed and called me a bad mom. I apologize once again and got ready to meet my sister," stating in her post she chose not to go because she "felt betrayed and wanted to teach her actions have consequences, even if it broke me that I didn't go."
Her sister says she did the right thing, but a mother at the ceremony said her daughter was depressed during the ceremony, so now she is wondering if what she did was wrong.
Many agree that it is time the mother talks with her daughter, stating that her father will never change.
As hurtful as it must have been for the daughter, this was the way for her to learn her lesson. Her father has constantly done this, and whatever hope she is trying to hold onto, hoping her father will reunite with her, it will not happen.
Actions have consequences, and her action of inviting her father, who was never going to show up, resulted in her mother not attending because she felt betrayed by her daughter's actions.
Kurtis Condra is a writer for YourTango based in San Francisco CA. When he's not writing about news and celebrities, in his off time he walks his pet turtle in the park enjoying the sun and time with his pet.