It’s hard when you have a parent who thinks they know your kids better than you do. Sometimes, our parents, especially our moms, forget that we’re adults raising our own kids. It can create a lot of tension between us. They sometimes fail to remember how much things have changed since they raised kids, inflicting their old school beliefs on our little ones. One woman recently had an encounter with her pushy mom, who apparently tried to get her toddler son to speak differently, fearing that his voice didn’t suit him.
The woman is mom to a 3-year-old boy.
In a since-deleted post on Reddit, the mom explained that her “bubbly, silly” toddler has an “adorable high-pitched voice.” She explained that the little one does things such as sing to their dog and narrate stories for his toys. He even says things like “Oh no! The broccoli is lonely.” She described him as “pure sunshine.”
Later on, we learn that the boy’s mom has a “complicated relationship” with her own mother, but she needed child care so she let her take care of the toddler. “When I picked him up, he was quiet,” she wrote. “Not just shy, like, unnaturally reserved.”
When she asked her mom if something had happened with her son, she was definitely not expecting the answer she got.
“I’m trying to help him develop a more normal tone,” the grandma explained. “That squeaky voice won’t serve him well. Boys need to sound strong.”
It’s classic pushy mom behavior.
Apparently, the grandma had been “correcting” the little boy’s speech all weekend. She would make him repeat sentences in a “lower register” and tell him not to “talk like a baby” when he was excited.
Naturally, the mom was furious at her mother. She was firm, telling her that if she tried her shenanigans again, that would be the last she saw of her daughter and grandson. “Hot take: if a child’s joy makes you uncomfortable, you’re not nurturing, you’re controlling.”
People did not hold their feelings back.
“The effort it would take me to not go scorched earth over this. I’m so pissed. I hope he’s back to normal now that he’s home with you,” one person commented. “My 3-year-old has a high pitched voice too. He’s the silliest of geese. I wouldn’t leave them alone together again.”
“Tell him grandma was wrong. You can even say grandma was mean and you don’t like how she treated him,” another commenter suggested. “You love how he talks. You miss hearing him talk.”
“She could give your child speech issues. You need to stay firm on this and make sure it never happens again. What a heartless and moronic woman,” someone else chimed in.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
