Man doesn't invite 'loud' 8yo girl to party; says, 'she screams over everything.' AITA?
In a post on Reddit a guy basically said, 'it's my party and I'll invite who I want to.' Here's his story...
'AITA for not inviting the next door neighbor girl to our backyard party?'
We live on a block filled with kids. Every now and then I like to get a bounce house and throw a little backyard party for them. I threw another one last week. I want my sons to have good memories with his neighbor kid friends because they all go to different schools.
I told the parents about it the party and that was lieu of an invite. I didn't invite the 8 yo girl who lives next door. Why?
My f**$ing God she screams over everything. It's not even a scream. It's ear piercing screeching. I cannot stand it. I can tune out the loud sounds from my 7 and 9 yo boys and their friends but not that girl's screaming.
It's like she sees a bug, she screams. She thinks someone is chasing her, she screams. She jumps off a swing, she screams.
I'm pretty sure it's for attention but I can't spend my Saturday listening to it in my backyard. Like I'd end up yelling at her and I don't want to do that or come across like an angry dad.
Her parents did ask me if something was wrong because she wasn't invited. I bluntly told them that I just can't take the screaming. They said she's no more louder than any other kid. No she's MUCH louder.
I told them I didn't want to discuss it any further. If and when she can stop her screaming then I'll be more than happy to invite her to my backyard parties. They were deeply offended.
I'm not looking for suggestions to abate her screaming or possible explanations to her screaming. I just don't want to hear it or be around it.
AITA for not inviting the next door neighbor girl to our backyard party?
Some people thought he was the AH:
Maleficent-HoneyBee said:
YTA - I get annoyed by screaming kids too, but if you can’t handle kids being loud and obnoxious for 1 day then don’t throw a kids backyard party. You have probably scarred that little girl for life by excluding her and making her the only child in the neighborhood who wasn’t invited to the party.
I can think back to times when I was intentionally excluded as a little girl and it took me years to get over that stuff. How would you feel if your sons were the only kids excluded from the next neighborhood event because someone found one of their behaviors obnoxious?
You’d probably be so pissed and upset on their behalf. Get over yourself and be kinder.
Inevitable-Rain7586 OP responded:
I have two boys so, yes, I'm used to noise. But this girl is just screeching all the time and it's funny to hear. It's not.
YTA. You invited every single kid but her. She'll see all the kids there and she'll know she is the only one not invited. I understand that you don't wanna deal with an annoying child but it's kinda mean.
I'd be different if she was a bully or is mean to the other kids but excluding her because she's loud isn't nice. And again, she literally lives next door. I hope the parents take her away that day so she won't see the other kids having fun and wonder why she isn't allowed to come
But lots of people were on his side:
DisneyFoodie20 said:
NTA. It's your backyard and your party. If you don't want to invite someone, you don't have to.
Nickei88 added:
Exactly! All these Y-T-A is mind-boggling. Why should OP take the time to figure out why the child screams? Isn't that what her parents are for? No one is entitled to a good time on someone else's behalf.
otisanek piled on:
I think a lot of the Y-T-A’s on posts like this come from kids who were the type to shriek at all times, or parents who have managed to convince themselves that all kids scream 24/7 because they don’t want to think that their kid is seen as the annoying screamer.
So there you go! Is it OK to exclude a kid in this case, or do you just have to suck it up and not get annoyed?