A mother has been accused of being raising an, “Ungrateful, spoiled brat”, for refusing to go along with the “heartfelt gesture” her father’s significant other unexpectedly had in store for her five-year-old daughter.
In a popular post on Reddit this week, 33-year-old mom and original poster (OP) DaughterPartyThrow shared that her daughter “Cleo” hates pink. However, the OP’s dad’s partner “Prue” apparently won’t accept that fact.
Over the years, she’s made “several” attempts to push the color onto the child—no matter how many times the OP tells her to stop.
Sister’s Warning
This “clearly upsets” Cleo, according to the OP’s post, but Prue persists.
That leads to about a week ago, when the OP’s father invited her family over for dinner at his place. Evidently, he and Prue had a surprise for her kids, the OP was told.
Right before they left home, the OP found out what exactly it was—thanks to a tip from her younger sister.
Stock photo/Getty Images
“She warned me that the ‘surprise’ was actually a small birthday party Prue had planned for Cleo,” the OP wrote in her Jan. 27 post, which has drawn 12,000 upvotes and 1,600 responses since.
“That alone threw me off, because my daughter’s birthday was in November.
“Then she sent me photos of how the place was decorated, and it very clearly wasn’t actually meant for Cleo. Literally every piece of decor was pink.
“The table, the tableware, the balloons, everything. She had gotten pink banners and glued pink foil fringe curtains on the doors.
“Even the cake was pink.”
Cleo is already annoyed by Prue’s “pushiness,” per the OP, and would have started crying had she seen this party thrown for “her,” the mom explained.
So, after showing everything to her husband, the couple agreed not to take their kids over. Plus, she texted her father that she knew what was going on and was taking the children to McDonald’s instead, telling them that was the “surprise.”
The OP noted that she invited her dad and Prue to attend if they wanted to. And her father did show up—though was “cold” with them and left within 20 minutes because he and Prue are furious.
‘Unwilling to compromise’
“My father is angry that my husband and I dismissed his partner’s ‘heartfelt gesture’ towards our daughter,” the mother wrote.
“Prue also told me that I’m the reason Cleo is ‘restrictive’ (I also don’t like pink), and I’m raising her to be an ungrateful, spoiled brat who is unwilling to compromise.”
When asking for outside verdicts on this family conflict, the OP acknowledged that she could be in the wrong. Still, she emphasized that this felt, “Like Prue trying to push something Cleo doesn’t like onto her yet again.”
Many Redditors could see why—and came to the mom’s defense.
Among the various users who reassuringly replied, an individual told the OP: “You handled it well, and avoided the worst. You were not rude so much as clear that you would not let Prue manipulate you/your daughter.”
A second supporter chimed in: “I’m not sure that Prue’s efforts were ‘a heartfelt gesture!’ Her insistence on pink seems to be more about Prue than about Cleo…
“The party wasn’t for Cleo, so not attending doesn’t seem any worse than throwing a party for someone when you know they’ll hate it!”
A fellow supportive user argued that the, “Spoiled brat unwilling to compromise”, was actually Prue, not the OP, or her daughter.
“This is like someone saying, ‘I hate mushrooms’, and then someone going out of their way to invite them to ‘special surprise’ dinner where every dish is made of only mushrooms and then getting mad at THEM for being ungrateful… Thank you for protecting your daughter.”
A fellow poster urged the mom to simply: “Hold firm in your boundaries.”
Toxic Relative
Speaking of boundaries, Newsweek previously covered how setting and clearly defining them are key components of dealing with a toxic relative.
Looking at a different piece of family drama that Redditors weighed in on lately, Newsweek covered why a mom was praised by readers for “banning” her in-laws from seeing her children.
In the thread, the mom noted that if her father and Prue wanted to dedicate a party to her daughter, “There are literally thousands of other colors to choose from. Prue specifically chose the only one my daughter loathes.
“If Prue wanted a pink party, she could have thrown herself one.”
Newsweek has contacted DaughterPartyThrow for comment via Reddit.
Newsweek’s “What Should I Do?” offers expert advice to readers. If you have a personal dilemma, let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice on relationships, family, friends, money and work, and your story could be featured on WSID at Newsweek.
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, click here.
