It is not easy throwing a birthday party for your kid. You have to worry who to invite, what kind of food to have, and what activities to do. Plus there are the dietary restrictions of your guests. It can feel overwhelming to try to accommodate everyone. One mom found herself in this position.
This mom’s brother brought his girlfriend and her son to the party. The needy girlfriend expected the mom to accommodate her son’s every whim because he is on the autism spectrum. When the mom clapped back at her, she got offended and left the party. Now there is tension in the family. The mom wonders if she went too far and took to Reddit’s popular AITA forum for advice.
An intimate gathering.
The mom started her story by explaining she decided to throw a small party for her son at his favorite pizza place. There were numerous food options. “Both my SIL and Daughter are vegetarian and I asked them both what kind of pizza they wanted and they both chose garden pizza with all veggies,” she explained. “We also had pepperoni and a meat lovers, cheesy garlic bread, wings and an Italian salad. Lots of food for dinner plus the cake and ice cream later.”
More from LittleThings: Hey Parents: Here's How To Throw A Child’s Birthday Party That Isn’t A Total Snooze Fest
Her brother brought two guests.
The mom went on to explain that her brother brought his new girlfriend and her son. She had never met them before because life is busy. The new girlfriend was upset that there was no cheese pizza for her son. She didn’t understand why her boyfriend didn’t warn her family about the fact that it is the only kind of pizza her son will eat because of his autism. The mom tried to smooth things over with cheesy bread but that wasn’t cutting it.
Here are some other options.
The mom continued to try to make things work and offered a large piece of cake. “It was white with sprinkles. Her kid only liked chocolate cake,” the mom explained. The mom’s attention was needed elsewhere to help some kids get along.
But the pizza.
It was then that the girlfriend decided to approach the mom about the pizza situation again. “The girlfriend asked me to order a cheese pizza for her son so he could have something to eat. I snapped back with ‘not everything is about your kid,’” the mom explained. It wasn’t until cake time that she noticed her brother, his girlfriend, and her son had left.
The drama wasn't over.
The brother contacted his sister after the party was over. “I get a long text message from my brother about how I could bully a child and his mother and what an awful example I’m setting for my kids. I do not feel like I was out of line and she was a rude guest and now my brother and I aren’t talking,” the mom concluded.
Now it’s Reddit’s turn to weigh in.
The consensus is…
Reddit users are overwhelming on the mom's side in this situation. They think this has more to do with the brother not communicating properly with his girlfriend and disappointing her.
One Reddit user mused: “It sounds the gf expected the brother to 1. let OP know they were coming, and 2. convey the dietary restrictions, and he did not. At that point, ideally, he would have made up for not doing that by ordering them a cheese pizza? In her place, I would have just ordered it myself.”
A unique perspective.
One woman who is on the spectrum herself also weighed in. “Auntie to a kid with autism, and has autism myself,” she began. “You eat before hand or bring safe foods, because even if they have a 'safe food' what if it’s 'weird' what if their sauce isn’t right?”
Mom's always right.
This busy mom of three can cross worrying about this situation off her to-do list. Here's hoping her brother will come around. Maybe next time he will learn to communicate ahead of time.
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