Kids' birthday parties can be tricky to navigate for parents, whether it's moms and dads of the birthday kid or guests. However, there are some unwritten rules caregivers generally follow when it comes to food. One mom was left scratching her head following her child's birthday celebration, and now she wants the internet to weigh in: Is she the a–hole?
The mom took to the AITA sub-Reddit recently to share what she experienced during her son's birthday party. Her brother brought his girlfriend and her son to the get-together but then demanded a specific type of food her son would eat. The original poster refused to accommodate them. Now, her brother isn't talking to her after leaving the party and sending a scathing text message.
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The incident went down at a 'small' birthday party at a pizza place.
The mom took to Reddit to explain her situation. "I was having a small birthday party for my son. We decided on his favorite pizza place," she shared.
The OP noted that she ordered a garden pizza with all veggies for her sister-in-law and daughter, who are vegetarian, and a pepperoni and a meat lover's pizza. Additionally, she got cheesy garlic bread, wings, and an Italian salad. (Plus cake and ice cream for later.)
The OP's brother, his girlfriend, and her son came to the party, too.
Things seemed to be going great until the three of them showed up. At the time, the mom was busy running the birthday party and tending to her three kids and four other cousins at the party.
"The girlfriend ask[s] where the cheese pizza is and I told her we don’t have cheese. She started in on my brother about how could you not tell your family my child only likes cheese pizza and says something about it’s because of his autism," the OP explained. "I said we have cheesy garlic bread but the boy didn’t like that either. Then I suggested he could have extra large piece of cake. It was white with sprinkles. Her kid only liked chocolate cake."
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Things got chaotic, and the OP 'snapped' at her brother's girlfriend.
As the mom was caught up in the birthday party, including kid disagreements about Fortnite and technical difficulties with a Nintendo Switch, the brother's girlfriend approached the OP.
"The girlfriend asked me to order a cheese pizza for her son so he could have something to eat. I snapped back with 'not everything is about your kid,'" she recounted. "I was then distracted by my daughter yelling at her cousin because she didn’t want him playing her switch with gross chicken grease hands. I went to defuse that."
The brother, his girlfriend, and the son abruptly left, and he sent a scathing message to the OP.
When it came time for cake and ice cream at the birthday party, the OP noticed the three of them had left.
"I get a long text message from my brother about how I could bully a child and his mother and what an awful example I’m setting for my kids," she shared. "I do not feel like I was out of line and she was a rude guest and now my brother and I aren’t talking."
Reddit users agreed: This mom is not the jerk.
In the comments, Reddit users resoundingly decided the OP is NTA, or Not the A–hole. One person pointed out, "If she really cared so much for her child she would have bought him a cheese pizza. You don’t go to a birthday party and demand things especially when you were not invited to said party."
(The OP confirmed in the comments that her brother asked if he could bring them to the party; they were not initially invited.)
Another Reddit user commented, "I have an extremely picky eater who also only eats cheese. If we were in that situation, the simple solution is for me to order my son a cheese pizza myself. It’s not that complicated. My son’s eating issues aren’t anyone else’s problem."
"She was rude from the start, you already had your hands full with the kids, she or your brother could have ordered the pizza themself," someone else wrote. "If her child is very picky (which is not unusual with autism), she should have had something with her that he can eat just in case."
That commenter didn't totally let OP off the hook but was mostly on her side, writing, "Your response was rude, but her trying to order you around at home is disrespectful at best."
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