Before you read about this recent Reddit “Am I The A—hole” post, we suggest you do one of three things: take a bazillion deep breaths, have a pillow ready to scream into, and/or grab something to smash. Because if this makes you as mad as it made more than 3.6K Redditors (and rapidly counting!), you’re going to want to be prepared.
Today on Reddit, we found this post titled “AITA because I (38F) don’t want to take my stepson (9) on vacation?”
Is your blood starting to boil? Are you wishing that typing that sentence out and reading it back to herself would have made her realize just how outrageous she’s being? Same. But it didn’t.
The woman who originally posted (the “OP”) goes on to share a story that “absolutely shattered” a Redditor’s heart and rallied the internet to absolutely obliterate this evil stepmom. We’ve truly never seen commenters go after an OP the way they went after this one.
So have you taken your deep breaths? Gotten your pillow and something to smash? Here we go.
OP started off her post by explaining that she has been married to her husband for five years. They have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old daughter together. They also each have a son from a previous marriage. OP has a 10-year-old son whose dad (her former husband) passed away. As for her husband’s son? Well, that’s a different story.
The Custody Arrangement
OP’s husband got divorced when his son was 2 years old.
“His ex wanted ‘a fresh start,'” OP wrote, “so my husband did the decent selfless thing and had complete custody of their son, even though he’d wanted shared custody.”
Since then, OP said the ex has “barely [been] involved” in the 9-year-old’s life.
The Outrageous Plan
You knew this was coming. OP got a bonus at work and wanted to do something fun with it.
“I really want to go on vacation with just MY family JUST once,” she wrote. “We’ve been on family vacations all together lots of times. But just once I want to spend MY money going on vacation where I’m not looking after someone else’s kid.”
*Record scratch* What?! What?! What?! What?! We could go off right here and now, but we’ll let Redditors have that privilege really soon.
“I want my stepson to stay with his mom while we go on vacation,” she continued. “My husband sees my point of view and is okay with it. I don’t think I’m being at all unreasonable.”
The Voice Of Reason (Almost)
OP’s mom found out about her daughter’s plan and told her she was being “a complete a—hole.” Thank you! Finally! Someone!
“These are the reasons she says I could be the AH: My mom says that if stepson’s mom isn’t properly involved in his life, I should be even more involved in his life to compensate,” OP wrote. “(I think this is a completely unfair expectation).”
Uhhh. Ok. Not the real problem/reasoning but…uh…ok. At least she’s telling OP off.
“She also says that I’m being a hypocrite taking my son, but I think that’s totally different because my son DOESN’T HAVE ANOTHER PARENT. I’m all he’s got.”
Again! Not fully the issue here. And, OP, you’re just digging yourself a bigger hole!
“If stepson’s mom won’t take him just for once then obviously he’ll come on vacation with us,” OP said, being the saint she is.
“But I don’t think I’m the AH to ask if I can have a vacation with my own family just one time. It’s not like I hate stepson or something, he’s a nice kid, he’s just not mine. Am I the AH?”
Redditors, go ahead and take it away!
The Backlash
OP has gotten thousands of enraged responses. We’ve truly never seen a fury like this before from the cesspool that is the “AITA” subreddit.
The top comment with 16K upvotes went after these three lines from OP’s post: “Just MY family JUST once,” “I’m not looking after someone else’s kid,” and “I don’t think I’m the AH to ask if I can have a vacation with my own family just one time.”
“Your husband’s son is your family, and you better not ever let that kid hear you say otherwise. Jesus Christ…Homie that ship f*cking sailed when you married a man with a child…Wanting a vacation with your family is fine. Deciding that your stepson doesn’t count as family is f*cked up beyond belief and definitely makes you an AH.”
“All of this and a bag of chips!” someone agreed. “SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!”
“She also has a son from a previous marriage,” someone wrote. “I wonder how fine she’d be if her hubby didn’t take her son on trips and use the same excuse she did.”
“She married his dad and agreed to have a blended family,” another person said. “She has 4 kids. Screw the step titles. She has 4 kids to teach, care for, and love. She is exactly like Cinderella’s stepmom in every way. She has one of the ugliest hearts out there.”
One commenter went on an epic 500-word rampage and we’ll give you the highlights: “You’re one of the biggest AHs I’ve ever seen on this sub, and that’s really saying something…My heart is absolutely shattered for that poor little boy…That little boy IS your family, and it’s staggeringly awful that you keep repeating over and over that he isn’t…’I want to spend MY money going on vacation where I’m not looking after someone else’s kid.’ You mean YOUR HUSBAND’S kid?…Is this honestly how you see this child, who has been living with you full-time, 24/7/365 for the last half-decade?…’My husband sees my point of view and is okay with it.’ Then your husband is also an AH…You’re literally trying to argue that a little boy who has no other family than you should be excluded from your family vacation because you didn’t ‘choose’ or give birth to him, and you don’t want him. It’s not reasonable, it’s f*cking monstrous.”
Someone responded saying, “You went too easy on OP. Seriously, she insults a—holes. No, she insults all of humanity… the husband is also an AH. Wow. That poor child, mom abandoned him, now his father, and he has HER. Talk about getting the sh*tty end of the stick.”
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