'I'd be horrified if my kids did that': Internet slams eight-year-old's pregnant mom for enabling 'disgusting' behavior
At a time when calls for teaching children responsible behavior are at an all-time high, a post on a Reddit platform only added fuel to the fire. A recent Reddit post by u/FarEnd2747 sparked some intense debate on holding children accountable for their actions. The post was made by a 28-year-old married woman who has no children. The pair just purchased a new home and moved in last month. Recently, the user’s seven-month pregnant sister came to visit along with her eight-year-old son.
“The issue started with my nephew asking me where the bathroom was, I showed him. He was in the bathroom for about 2 minutes and he came out and everything was fine, until I went in there. I went in and he peed on the floor and toilet seat instead of in the actual toilet, there was a lot. I come out asking Tess to come in here and I showed her,” the user's post reads. She asked her sister to clean up, but the pregnant woman claimed to be tired and asked her sibling to do it herself. Nevertheless, the "disgusted" user had made her sister clean up the mess before she had left the house.
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User fumes over being called out
The user then expressed her displeasure at being called out by her mother for making her sister do the cleaning. “Tess eventually left, she gave me a cold look before she left and hasn't spoken to me since besides the text "fuck off". Word got to my mom, and I got a call from her telling me that she cannot believe that I'd make Tess do that, and that I'll never understand pregnancy (she knows I'm childfree), and I don't understand how tiring is it to be pregnant,” the user said.
She then added that while her husband agreed with what she had done, her mother and sister continue to not see things her way. “I feel like I'm going crazy here. My husband agrees with what I did but my mom and sister are not so happy with me. AITA?”
Redditors side with the OP
With the matter now up for discussion, fellow Redditors were quick to dissect the dilemma at hand. One user asked for the child to be taught to clean up after himself and said, “Her EIGHT year old son should have cleaned it, unless he has a medical issue. I’m 9 months pregnant, literally due any second, and I am fully capable of cleaning up after my two kids. I would be horrified if my kids did that in someone else’s home!”
"I would have framed it more as “be a parent then and get your fully capable child to clean his mess up”. My son sometimes has aim issues in the morning and from 4 years old on he’s known how to clean it up himself, and if he forgets, a quick reminder is all he needs,” another user said in favor of the OP.
Someone else bashed the child and the parent for not teaching her son to clean up after himself at eight years of age. “Exactly! This boy is old enough to either learn how to aim properly or learn how to clean up after himself. OP shouldn't have to clean up after him. OP's sister shouldn't have to clean up after him either, but I'm guessing that she's part of the reason he feels comfortable just leaving such a mess in other people's houses in the first place. Either she can stop enabling her son and teach him to be accountable for his own actions or she can face the consequences herself. I feel sorry for this kid's future spouse already.”
Others noted this was a missed opportunity to teach the child a lesson. A user wrote, “This could have been a teachable moment between mother and child.” Another user, a former child psychologist, took the OP's side while empathizing with the sister as well. “Parenting is really hard sometimes," they wrote. "It’s exhausting, and I imagine doubly so when pregnant. Still not an excuse nor a reason to outsource parenting to the childfree OP.”
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.