A woman was hoping to take cute family photos at her baby shower while opening gifts, but unfortunately, another kid joined in and was in all of the photos. Instead of giving up on the photo op, the woman decided to Photoshop the other child out of her photos, which seemed like a decent idea until the child's mom found out. The woman says the boy's mom was "very upset." The woman took to Reddit to ask other people about the situation, wondering if she took it too far when she edited the child out of her photos.
The baby shower was meant to be for women only.
The woman explained that she did not want anyone at her baby shower other than the women in her life (other than her son). However, the friends and family she invited started inviting their partners and children, and eventually, she just went with it and invited her fiancé, too.
Because her whole family ended up being there, she wanted family photos.
With her fiancé and son both at the event, she thought it would be a great time to take photos. She had nice decorations, including a balloon arch, set up, so she thought she could get some cute photos of her son opening gifts with her and her fiancé.
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Naturally, another child wanted to help open presents.
Things did not go as planned because another boy wanted to help open presents, too. The boy is friends with the woman's son, so he asked his mom if he could join them. The woman says his mom encouraged him to ask: “Oh! That sounds like a great idea! Go ask OP.”
She didn't have the heart to say no to the boy, but her mom and friend talked to the boy's mom quietly, trying to talk her out of it. That mom responded with, "OP wouldn’t mind my son is a sweet kid he’d be so happy doing the presents."
Clearly, the OP did mind.
So the kid helped open presents anyway.
Because the other child helped open presents, he was also in all of the photos that were taken. Though lots of photos were taken, the OP said no one was able to get photos of just her and her family because the other child is great friends with her son and they stuck together the whole time.
The woman used Photoshop to remove the child from pictures.
Clearly determined to get family photos, the woman used Photoshop to edit the other child out of her photos. Problem solved, right? Except the child's mom found out and was not happy. "The mother is very upset with me saying I shouldn’t have removed her son from the photos and that it hurts her feelings I would so easily exclude her son," the woman wrote.
Reddit users had conflicting opinions.
Some thought the other mom was the problem, but others accused the OP of not being able to stand up for herself. According to some Reddit users, the adults at the party should've been able to control this child and the OP has no one else to blame other than herself.
Many Reddit users encouraged her to stand up for herself.
"There were MULTIPLE adults and not a single one could stand up to a child???" one user wondered. "This can't be real! only you, and your lack of spine, are to blame for the missing photos.
Another said that she was not being kind to herself: "You had a Clear Vision of the way you wanted it to happen and you were too intimidated-or-what to tell a child 'I'm sorry, this is not for you.'"
Others said the photo editing was not a problem — but the OP still has a problem.
One person explained that using Photoshop to edit the kid out of photos was not a big deal, but the OP clearly has a lesson to learn: how to say "no" to people.
"OP is a complete pushover and clearly made it not a family affair by bending to every single request made by any random person," the person wrote. "As soon as she said, 'Yes, you can bring your kids, yes, you can bring your husband, yes you can bring your sixth cousin twice removed's housekeeper' it stopped being a family affair. She then failed to say anything about the kid opening presents and somehow couldn't even bring herself to ask a small child to move for a family photo."
Still, many were annoyed with the other mom.
Although many people agreed that the OP should've stepped in and said something to avoid this situation, many also thought that the other mom was responsible for what happened as well.
"This woman has no boundaries," one person responded, describing the other child's mom. "Next she’ll be inviting her kid to help others open their birthday presents. This was a family affair and he’s not family."
"The other mother is out of line and needs to develop some common sense," another person commented, adding that the OP was "too nice" and should've just let the other child open one gift.
Some told the OP that she shouldn't complain.
The baby shower went the way it did because she did not speak up about what she wanted and she wasn't firm with people, many concluded based on what the woman wrote in her original post.
"Speak up in the moment, or you will spend your whole life in regret," one person wrote. "That's not fair to you or your kids. Would you let someone ruin your sons birthday like this? I would hope not. So, treat yourself as well as you would treat your family."
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