Mom won't punish son for being a 'bully', dad and stepmom say 'you're a bad parent.'
When this mom is concerned, she asks Reddit:
'AITA for not punishing my son for being a bully?'
I have two children; “Nico” (17) and “Bailey” (13).
Nico and Bailey have different dads, Nico takes after his dad build + athleticism wise, he’s tall and through sports + frequenting the gym he’s big - my ex has always instilled in him that due to his height and size he can be intimidating…I know Nico has a lot of resentment/shame because of this.
Bailey is introverted, she’s anxious and emotional which can be sweet, it’s not overly negative but in turn comes with challenges - one of these challenges being “Jess” who teases Bailey relentlessly to the point of panic attacks and tears, the school hasn’t done anything.
Well Jess’ brother goes to the same class and gym as Nico, who when he found out about Jess told her brother that either he puts a stop to it or Nico would just bully him back…Nico is quite popular too, it’s never gotten too bad but Jess’ mum and Nicos school have told us to stop it.
As far as I’m aware Nico and his friend just teased, I don’t know specifically about what…I know nico didn’t get in his space.
My ex wants to punish Nico, he says due to their age + Nicos size that it’s just unacceptable and naturally he’s intimidating but adding actually trying to be intimidating is worse…
Well Bailey isn’t getting bullied anymore and she’s grateful to Nico, I told him he shouldn’t have bullied the kid but I won’t punish him.
My ex and his wife are insisting I’m TA and being a bad parent. AITA?
Let's find out.
cheeseandpasta97 writes:
NTA. Your ex wants to punish your son for protecting his sister? I would give him a treat. Besides, Nico didn't actually bully him, instead he gave him a warning.
The school has some audacity to get involved when no help with given to Bailey when she needed help. I would put in more complaints about this.
cuervoguy7 writes:
YTA.Nico sounds like his heart is in the right place, but he is going about this horribly. So this guy (Jess' brother) is totally innocent in all of this, but your son is threatening him for his sisters actions?
And you are ok with this. It doesn't matter if nothing happened yet, but he is threatening an innocent kid for literally no reason. You definitely need to step in here and punish him.