A father of two has left the internet torn after he chose to go to his son’s sports game over his daughters.
Published to Reddit’s r/AmITheA**hole forum, a father under the username u/throw3456897away shares his story for the “AITA” community to decide if he would be in the wrong for attending his son’s game instead of his daughters. The viral post has over 4,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments.
The Redditor begins by explaining how he has two teenagers, “Emily” and “Tyler” with his ex-wife. Each child has a final game of their sport for the season. He said that his daughter is competing for the league title while his son will finish in seventh place no matter the outcome of their final game.
His ex-wife messaged him where Emily’s game will take place, while the Redditor assumed that she will be attending Tyler’s game, scheduled for the same time. She explained to him that a teammate is taking their son to the game. She suggested that both parents go to Emily’s game as she wanted to make her parents proud of her.
Millions of high school students participate in sports. For the Next College Student Athlete (NSCA), the popular sports between girls and boys are outdoor track and field, basketball and soccer.
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He wrote, “I told her that it’s just a kids game and we shouldn’t let our son alone on the last match of the season just because of ‘pride’. She replied that Tyler wouldn’t probably even play because for the last few games the coach only bring him in the last 15 minutes of the game.”
He noted that his son had an ankle injury during the season and was sitting out up until last month and now only plays during the last final minutes. He was shocked at his wife’s plan. He did n’t want his son from him all alone on his last game from him.
“When I told her about my decision she kept screaming about how I wasn’t taking girls sports seriously because I would rather watch a meaningless match that our son probably wouldn’t even play in rather than seeing Emily win the trophy,” he explained .
After failing to reach Emily by phone, he called Tyler in order to reach her. Tyler told the Redditor that Emily didn’t want to speak with him as she was upset that he wasn’t coming to her game. Tyler encouraged his father to support Emily rather than attend his game from her.
“I know that he was pressured by his mom because of his voice and because the last word he’d choose to describe a game with is meaningless (it’s also the same word my ex said to me) and because of how much he loves soccer ,” the Redditor concluded.
The original poster (OP) has left the internet torn in the comment section.
“Unpopular [Everyone Sucks Here]. Your ex is if your speculation is correct that she is truly trying to manipulate your son,” u/heathahR received the top comment of 13,000 upvotes, “I know on paper it makes sense that each kid gets a parent at their game, but not all games are weighted the same.”
They continued: “There’s a high chance this will be her only championship game and the highest peak she’ll ever reach in her sport. Meanwhile, this is just another regular game for your son of which he will have another five years worth not to mention two years worth in which your daughter is out of school so he won’t have conflicting games like this, a luxury your daughter doesn’t have.”
“Lo siento, pero [You’re the A**hole]. Your son is riding with other people to an obligatory end of season game where he will likely not spend much time playing anyway. He is also a couple years younger and will have plenty of future matches. This was a championship game for your daughter, where she is an active player, and it obviously means a lot to her to have you there,” u/jsodano explained.
“For many children, including myself, seeing that your parent values your effort no matter if you won a championship or failed is very important. I would feel [devastated if] I was the son, and I would associate parental support with achievements like medals and such. That is not good. [Not the A**hole],” u/superdude111223 said.
Newsweek reached out to u/throw3456897away for comment.