Parent gives cousin a taste of her own medicine, 'kids will be kids.' AITA? 'It was just a slap.'
"AITA for saying 'kids will be kids' when my children hit another child?"
I have 3 kids F13 M9 F1. Recently we went to a birthday party and there were many other kids around. One of the kids was my cousin's daughter F4 who is a very bratty kid.
My cousin's daughter was playing with my youngest and slapped her which made her cry. I ran to hug her and looked at my cousin to see what she is gonna do and she simply laughed and said "Kids will be kids. It was just a slap. She will be fine.
As soon as she said that and before I could say anything my older kids raised their hands and slapped her, hard, on both sides of face. She fell on the ground and started to cry.
My cousin looked at me with wide eyes and said "WTF is wrong with your kids? Why would they do that?" And I just shrugged and said "I don't know, kids will be kids I guess." She called me an ahole and has been telling people I allowed my "teenagers" to bully her toddler.
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Joey_BagaDonuts57 said:
THIS is why 'kids will be kids' is always a cheap excuse for bad parenting.
ZerotheHero000 said:
ESH. A four year old shouldn't be hitting a baby. Teenagers should not be hitting a toddler. Parents should actually get involved and be parents.Your cousin was TA for not parenting her kid, but so are you for allowing your children to get involved.
Like, everyone in this story sucks really bad except the actual child, and there was already a ton of effort put in to not make you look worse. Moral of the story? Teach kids impulse control and not to hit. ESH.
Ok_Signature3413 said:
ESH. Yeah, the 4 year old shouldn’t have hit your daughter and her mother should have disciplined her, but a 9 and 13 year old hitting a 4 year old is fucked up regardless. She’s 4, and at this point the problem is being caused by her shitty mother acting like it’s okay to hit, and she was then only shown that it’s okay to hit in retaliation.
Aromatic-Quantity623 said:
ESH. A 9 year old and 13 year old shouldn’t be hitting a 4 year old. You just gonna shrug if another, older cousin comes around and creams your older kids? Of course not. Retribution among children with petty moms backing them up can be disastrous.
You should all be teaching your children how to deescalate. But it seems like neither of the adults in the situation learned that for themselves.
Jay-SeaBreeze said:
Idk if a 13 year old and a 9 year old should be disciplining a 4 year old. YTA, but it was funny to read. Sounds like bad parenting all around.
Zestyclose_Public_47 said:
ESH. Under no circumstances should any child be slapping someone but the age difference between your child and hers is the problem