
Some of us have horror stories of being called all sorts of nicknames during school years. Some are playful, whereas others are downright cruel, and if we could have gotten rid of them sooner, we would have. One mom said her young daughter has been given a nickname by her grandmother. Although it's not necessarily "cruel," her daughter doesn't care for it. Therefore, the mom encouraged her daughter to speak up for herself.
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A mom (OP) took to Reddit's AITA forum to share a situation with her mother-in-law and get some advice.
"I have a five year old daughter named Colette," the OP shared in the Reddit forum. "Ever since she was born my mil called my daughter 'letters' as a nickname (because Colette ends in lette i'm guessing)," she wrote.
"It's not the greatest nickname in the world but I let it go."
OP explained that recently her young daughter asked her why her grandma calls her Letters and not her real name. "Why does grandma call me 'letters'. My name is Colette," she recalled her daughter asking.
She responded that it's "her nickname for you," and her daughter replied with, "that's weird."
The mom then asked her daughter how she felt about the nickname.
"Do you not like being called 'letters'," the mom asked her daughter, who replied, "not really," according to OP. The mom told her daughter that it would be "ok to tell grandma that you want to be called Colette instead of letters."
And that's what 5-year-old Colette did.
"Colette went to my MIL's house today. My husband dropped her off and picked her up so I didn't see my MIL at all that day," OP shared. "That night I get a call from my MIL. She tells me that it was really rude for Colette to say she didn't like her nick name. And that I shouldn't have told her to say that."
The MIL accused the mom of "raising her to be bratty" and said her granddaughter was not welcome in her house. "She also said that Colette couldn't come over until she apologized and says that she likes being called letters."
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That's when things took another turn.
"That last part p—ed me off," OP confessed. "I told her 'what the f—? You're banning a 5 year old from your house for not liking a stupid nick name. Then I hung up on her."
OP was concerned that she was in the wrong for the words she used. She asked, "Aita for using that kind of language with my mil?"
Hundreds of commenters replied to OP's question and assured her that she's not the one in the wrong.
She's not the a–hole, one person replied, and "good for you for teaching your daughter to stand up for herself and doubling down and standing up for her. MIL needs to apologize to the 5 year old for not respecting her name request."
Another wrote, "Time for your husband to involve himself. You and Colette have done nothing wrong assuming Colette wasn't actually rude in how she spoke to your MIL."
The person continued, "Your MIL, on the other hand, has overreacted (I'm guessing she was embarrassed when Colette told her to knock it off) a lot and now your husband has to become involved to advocate for his wife and daughter. It's his mom, so his responsibility to intervene."
"She didn't even just want an apology, she wanted the 5 year old to lie about liking it to her," a third person commented. "That's beyond unacceptable as far as how to treat a child. But the banning the 5 year old part is fine, because it is in the best interest of the child not to interact with her."
"My MIL is just like this grandma," someone else shard. "She acts [like a] child and alwa[y]s gets her way. I dread how she's going to be when we have children! NTA, OP. Stay firm and protect your daughter."
There were nearly 1,000 comments on the thread, and it was full of support for OP and her sweet daughter, Colette.
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