“She tried to shame me publicly for not inviting them to my birthday party, so I shot back showing what a terrible parent she is,” the frustrated woman reveals.
Lauren loves her niece and nephew, Sofia and Parker, but she recognizes that the 10 and seven-year-old struggle with their behavior, largely due to her sister Angel’s hands-off parenting style.
“Angel is entirely permissive and refuses to discipline them,” Lauren explained in a Reddit post.
“She expects other adults to step in when Sofia and Parker’s behavior is getting out of hand.”
So when Lauren was planning her birthday party, she told Angel that the kids weren’t welcome.
“I want a peaceful evening to celebrate… Angel acted understanding when I made this request and explained my reasons to her in person, but then she went online and made a Facebook post accusing me of hating Sofia and Parker.
Angel also said Lauren was punishing her by including their 17-year-old niece on the guest list, but not Angel’s kids.
Lauren wasn’t having it. She went onto her phone, found video evidence of Sofia and Parker’s bad behavior and posted it in the comments.
There probably isn’t a parent in existence who hasn’t seen their child have a tantrum, but Lauren argued that the issue was Angel’s reaction.
“The first video was a recording taken by my 17-year-old niece Megan, where Sofia and Parker were throwing tantrums and yelling at her. Megan was trying to calm Sofia and Parker down while Angel was on her tablet ignoring the situation,” Lauren said.
“The other video was one that Angel took. Sofia and Parker were yelling, throwing toys at each other, and Parker even called his sister a bad word. Angel was laughing as if it were funny and was again doing nothing to discipline Sofia or Parker.”
Lauren made sure to comment that she loved Sofia and Parker, but the damage was done.
Reddit sides with aunt on tantrum debate
Angel didn’t come to the party, and the women’s parents were furious, saying that all kids had tantrums, and the videos only served to humiliate Angel.
But the Reddit community saw through Angel’s public attempt to get sympathy.
“She tried to have the internet gang up on you. You just presented the facts instead of just one side of the story,” one person wrote. “Besides, it is your birthday.”
“She started it, you finished it,” said another.
Some thought although Lauren was right about not inviting the kids, she could have been more tactful.
“I would include my 17-year-old niece in an adult evening too – there’s a huge difference between 17 and 10. But you shouldn’t have posted the videos without consent,” one person said.
“I don’t love that you shared the videos, shaming the kids instead of the bad parents,” said another. “After your sister tried to play victim and make you the bad guy, I would have explained in the comments and offered to text video to family members to explain why.”
