As most sensible people do, the mother posted about her conundrum on Reddit’s famous forum, “r/AmItheA–hole” (AITA), a subreddit where people can post their moral debates for the world to see. Other enlightened individuals can then comment their thoughts on the situation and ultimately determine for themselves who was in the right. The two most common ratings are “Not The A–hole” (NTA) for when the original poster is in the right, and “You’re The A–hole” (YTA) for when they are in the wrong. The mother writes that her daughter has wanted to pierce her ears for a long time. She believes that her child is too young to get piercings and tells her that she can get it done when she turns 10, but the daughter still asks her mother repeatedly.
When the mother picked up her daughter from her ex, she was horrified to see that her daughter had her ears pierced.
RELATED: Woman Stirs Debate After Revealing That She Spanked Her 4-Year-Old Brother To Discipline Him She, furious at her ex, asked him why he would let their daughter do this without consulting her first. He argued back that she was old enough to get the piercings done and that since she’s his daughter as well, he had just as much say as his ex-wife in the situation. The mom also took issue with the fact that they got the piercings done at a retailer called Claire’s (where they train their employees to pierce ears in the store as they are shopping), which, according to her post, has a “horrible reputation for their piercings”. The poster explained that she grounded her daughter for a week for asking her father even when she knew her mother would disapprove. She added that her family members have told her she is overreacting to the situation, but she feels that she “can’t trust him as a co-parent anymore,” before ending her post by asking if she is the a-hole.
Ultimately, the majority of commenters agreed that the mother was in the wrong — labeling her as YTA.
Many pointed out that her decision was arbitrary and that she should have done a better job of communicating with her ex to make sure they were both on the same page. Some added that she is overreacting to the situation, as her family pointed out to her. Others said that she was treating her daughter like a possession rather than a child. RELATED: Dad Drops His 15-Year-Old Off At Mall Alone To Help Him Overcome His Social Anxiety, Sparking Debate
However, some argued that neither the mother nor the father were in the right, using the more uncommon “Everyone Sucks Here” (ESH) vote.
They argued that both sides should have come to an agreement and they were both responsible for their failure to do so. Some took this thinking a step further and said that she was NTA, arguing that the father was more at fault for not communicating than the mother was. Regardless of who was in the right, we can only hope that the relationship between all three can be fixed and that the daughter is happy with both of her parents — and her newly pierced ears. RELATED: Mom Creates ‘First Time Sex Starter Kit’ Series With 16-Year-Old Son Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. He majors in journalism at the University of Central Florida with a minor in sports business. Follow him on Twitter.