While every parent will have to deal with some bad behavior from time to time, some will encounter their child doing something that genuinely scares them.
And sometimes it’s not because the child is about to injure themselves or showing signs that they’ll be on a most wanted list later in life, but because they start treating people in a way we tend to associate with the worst adults.
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Whether this was influenced by another family member or the child’s peers , most parents will want to nip their child’s cruelty at the bud.
But as we’ll see in one story of a mom dealing with her apparently spoiled daughter, any punishments dealing with this behavior aren’t always done with the righteous confidence that it might seem like they are to the child in question.
Although the woman we’re about to hear from teetered between foster care and homelessness when she was a child, her kids have grown up with a much higher level of privilege.
As she explained in a Reddit post , this more charmed life described the kind of upbringing her husband had. However, he shares her values and both parents sought to bring their kids up with the belief that they should always help people when they can.
It’s also worth noting that their three kids have grown up with a nanny that the woman has considered her family’s rock for 13 years.
For both of these reasons, it particularly angered the woman when her oldest daughter screamed “You’re a maid, that’s what we pay you for, to clean up after our family, do your job” at her.
As the woman put it, “I’ve never heard my children speak like this to anybody and I saw red.”
Nonetheless, she remained calm and asked the nanny what happened, to which she was told that the nanny only asked the 13-year-old to put her dirty clothes in the hamper so she could start laundry.
As the woman said, “I love her and see her as family and I’m still upset over how she was treated. I gave her a couple of paid days off to decompress and let her go home.”
And while she had initially taken away her daughter’s electronics after hearing her screed, that’s not where things ended.
First of all, the parents explained that she’s lucky to have people in her life to make it easier and that she’s not entitled to their presence. They also reminded her that she doesn’t pay anyone to do anything because it isn’t her money.
To further that point, they’re going to have her spend her weekends volunteering at a youth center for underprivileged kids, write a full apology letter to the nanny, and do her own laundry, keep her own room clean, and care for her own puppy.
In four weeks, they’ll re-evaluate whether these changes are necessary anymore.
And since the daughter isn’t speaking to her as a result of these punishments, she’s also planning to book some therapy sessions for the family.
However, one complicating factor appears to be the woman’s mother-in-law and her husband’s family in general, who appear to share the daughter’s attitudes.
Because after her parents laid down the law, the teen immediately contacted her grandmother. So now that side of the family is convinced the woman is “ruining” her daughter, while her own family is saying the complete opposite.
This has left her wondering if she went too far, so she reached out to Reddit for some perspective.
And most seemed to agree wholeheartedly with what these parents are doing and advised them to tell the woman’s in-laws to butt out.
As one user said , “Your daughter is acting like an entitled, rude brat and it needs to be stopped. The punishment seems to fit the crime, and I think it’s good both of you clarified that you’ll reconsider in a couple of weeks.”
That said, some advised against using volunteer work as a punishment as this doesn’t quite send the message the mother likely intended.
As another person put it , “I think charity work is great, but underprivileged people are not educational tools or lessons for others. They are human beings.”
h/t: Reddit | Suspicious-Room5169
