'Not a doll they can play with': Teen lauded for standing up for brother forced to practice FIVE sports
Online commenters are praising a 16-year-old girl after she revealed that she criticized her parents for forcing her twin brother to take part in five sports. The original poster, u/throwaway_accnt_0, shared the situation in the well-known 'Am I The A**hole' forum on Reddit, which garnered over 9,500 upvotes and 600 comments.
In a survey conducted by Mental Health America, nearly half of participants, aged between 11 and 17, reported feeling "very stressed out." More than 60 per cent of respondents admitted to feeling stressed out trying to juggle their jobs, extracurricular activities like sports and clubs, and schoolwork. 'AITA for calling out my dad and stepdad?' is the title of the blog post in which the teen claimed that she cheers her twin brother Cody while he participates in a variety of sports.
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The post read, "We do these activities because we enjoy them but Cody also puts in a lot of effort because he's constantly seeking approval from our dad AND stepdad. The two don't care for each other, but are somehow the best of friends when it comes to Cody's sports."
'Cody plays five different sports'
The teen stated that her brother played five different sports since their dad liked hockey and lacrosse and their stepdad preferred football and basketball. He also plays baseball because both of them enjoyed the sport. "If he ever dares to quit a single one, one of them will throw a riot or accuse him of playing favourites," the post read. "It's so dumb. Sometimes Cody's schedules clash or get so overwhelming to the point where he'll lay on his bedroom floor for hours and dissociate. It's been like this since he was like 10," the post read.
The girl claimed that Cody probably doesn't care because boys like sports and that their mother and stepmother believe it is just "men being men." However, the teen stated that Cody's extracurricular activities must unquestionably be restricted.
In one instance, the teen and her family recently had lunch with their older sister, who was about to leave for college. When the teen and Cody agreed to go to the mall with their sister after lunch, their dad informed him that he had baseball practice. She said in the post, "Cody tried asking if he could sit out one day since he hasn't missed a single practice of anything in his life, but our stepdad joined our dad's practice makes perfect speech and backed out."
'Cody is a human being with limits'
The 16-year-old said further in her post, "I thought this was ridiculous. I've missed plenty of practices and Cody has more awards than me. I asked them if they were being serious and told them what I just mentioned."
She claimed that despite her father's orders to keep quiet, she called him and their stepfather losers and informed them that Cody was a "human being with limits" and not "a doll they can program or play with."
'They say I was disrespectful'
The girl also wrote in her blog post, "My mom said I was reading too much into the whole thing and that they’re men and I simply won’t get their dynamics. I call bulls**t but they’re all saying I’m in the wrong and need to apologize. My sister agrees with me but says I was disrespectful. Cody doesn’t wanna talk about it. AITA?"
Commenters praised the 16-year-old girl
Online commenters lauded the girl, OP, for taking a stand for her twin brother. One user commented, "NTA are sports for enjoyment or to fulfill the fantasies of dads and stepdads?" Another user commented, "NTA, it needed to be said and it's sad that no one has said it before. Good for you for standing up for him." One wrote, "When your brother has a breakdown because of the pressure your dad & stepdad will be there all confused as to why that's happened."
One user claiming to be a high school basketball coach wrote, "If he's only there because a parent wants him to be there and really doesn't want to be there, I'll cut him so he can have at least some time that's his own." Another user commented, "I don't care how good the player is. If he's only there because other people want him to be, I'll make the 'Dad, I don't want to play basketball' conversation easy for him."