Woman Refuses To Pay For Birthday Cake That Her Son Smashed During His Cousin's Birthday Party Since 'Kids Will Be Kids'
Does "kids will be kids" mean they can destroy another child's birthday party with no consequences?
DenisProduction.com / ViDl Studio / Shutterstock There is nothing more upsetting for a child at their birthday party than to have their big moment of blowing out their birthday candles ruined by an unruly guest.
This is exactly what happened to one woman’s five-year-old son as he was being serenaded with the song “Happy Birthday.” Shortly after the little blow blew out his candles, his cousin leaped forward and ruined his cake.
As a result, his mother decided to send an invoice to the mother of the little boy to compensate for the smashed cake. However, the little boy’s mother, who was also the mom of the birthday boy’s cousin, argues that the mishap was not a big deal, and brushed it off.
Now, the woman is wondering if she took it too far by demanding her cousin pay for her son’s ruined birthday cake.
The mother of the little boy who ruined the cake refused to pay for it since ‘kids will be kids’.
Sharing her story to the AITA subreddit, the woman revealed that she recently threw a birthday party for her five-year-old son. It was the first real party he would be able to remember since the pandemic. “We wanted to make it special so we invited all our closest friends, family members, and their kids,” the woman wrote.
The guest list also consisted of the woman’s cousin and her “unruly” six-year-old son. “He is loud, disobedient, and a nightmare in public,” the woman says of the child. When it came time to sing “Happy Birthday” to her son around his birthday cake, she noticed that her cousin’s son was standing right next to him.
“I anticipated what was going to happen next and asked my husband to stand behind this kid in case he tried to pull anything,” the woman wrote. Once everyone sang, the little boy’s cousin attempted to blow out his birthday candles but was stopped by the woman’s husband. The child began to grow frustrated.
When the birthday boy blew out his candles, all hell broke loose.
Photo: DenisProduction.com / Shutterstock
“The kid absolutely lost it. He threw a tantrum and slammed his entire arm into the cake, knocking it into the table,” the woman shared.
Her son looked up at his parents, and the woman could tell that he was on the verge of tears. Luckily, her husband scooped him up and whispered to him that there was another special cake just for him hidden elsewhere to calm him down.
Meanwhile, his rambunctious little cousin was still standing in front of the ruined cake, screaming and crying with cake smeared on his arm. His mother was nowhere in sight.
“I walked him over to the sink and washed him off and quietly told him that he shouldn’t have done that to the cake and that he should apologize to his cousin for what he did,” the woman wrote. “He screamed ‘NO!’ in my face and then ran away.”
The woman’s husband had no choice but to run to the store during the party and pick up a backup cake. While he was out, the woman confronted her cousin about what happened.
“She brushed it off saying ‘kids will be kids,’” the woman wrote. “I completely disagree. I’ve been to plenty of birthday parties where the other kids let the birthday boy/girl have their moment.”
When the woman suggested to her cousin that she pay for the ruined cake, she claimed that she looked at her as if she were “crazy.”
“I told her how important it was to us that this birthday be special to my son since it would be the first one he remembered, and now all he would remember was that his cousin ruined his special moment,” she wrote. “She got extremely defensive and refused to pay for anything.”
After the party, the woman decided to send an invoice for the cake to her cousin anyway.
She refrained from sending her a second invoice for the cake her husband was forced to buy. However, her husband feels differently.
“My husband thinks she’ll never pay us and that I should drop the issue at this point,” the woman wrote. “He says that since she’s a single mom it’s probably hard on her and we should cut them both some slack.”
While the woman empathizes with her cousin’s struggles being a single parent, she believes that she should still hold her son accountable for his actions, especially if they are at the expense of another child’s happiness.
Most people agreed with the mother of the birthday boy and slammed her cousin for failing to control her son.
“This isn’t a single mom problem, it’s a bad parenting problem,” one Redditor commented. “Your cousin is setting herself up for some very difficult years. What a disservice to her child,” another user pointed out.
Other users encouraged the woman to no longer invite her cousin and her son to future events and sadly advised her that her cousin would likely never pay her back for the cake.
Being a single mother is undoubtedly difficult, but so is being a child who is not taught right from wrong, and so is being the birthday person who has their big moment tainted.
It is important that parents keep a watchful eye on their children during birthday celebrations to ensure the focus is on the person they are celebrating. While it can be exciting when the cake and candles are brought out, please be considerate of the person who has the honor of blowing them out!
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.