A couple went on holiday and left their son with his grandma – but what should have been a fun and happy time for the boy quickly turned into a traumatic nightmare.
The boy’s dad shared his story on Reddit’s relationship forum where he explained that their five year old son likes to dress up in fun costumes. Sometimes he dresses as a police officer and sometimes he dresses as a princess – either way, his parents don’t mind. They encourage him to express himself in whatever way he pleases. In short, they sound like good parents.
But when they left their son with his grandma – his mother’s mother – things quickly took a dark turn.
The grandma was apparently very unhappy to see the boy wearing dresses, so she dragged him into the back yard where she set them on fire and made the boy watch.
The boy was hysterical after grandma burned his dresses.
“When we went to pick him up yesterday, he came running to me hysterical saying ‘Grandma burnt my skirt and put it on fire!’” the boy’s dad wrote on Reddit.
“I was confused and he wouldn’t stop crying so my wife asked her what he was talking about.
“She said that ‘no little boy should be wearing a dress, he’s gonna get himself beat up or worse,’” the man continued.
“I asked what she did with the clothes and she said she put them in the burning bin in the back yard and showed him.”
When we went to pick him up yesterday, he came running to me hysterical saying ‘Grandma burnt my skirt and put it on fire!’
Unsurprisingly, the dad got very, very mad with his mother-in-law. He quickly told her that she wouldn’t be allowed near their son ever again – but that only served to create tension with his wife, who made excuses for her mother.
“I took him and went to the car and my wife came out about five minutes later. She told ME that I was overreacting and that her mother just ‘doesn’t understand it’,” he wrote.
“She doesn’t have to understand s**t but she will respect OUR parenting and the way we do things. My wife still doesn’t seem to get it.”
Most Reddit users said he wasn’t overreacting and praised him for standing up for his son.
The man posted in the relationships forum to ask Reddit users if he was overreacting. Most said he wasn’t – but many suggested that he may need to compromise to placate his wife.
One Reddit user commented: “Your wife’s normal meter is broken.” They also said that the grandma’s feelings shouldn’t be allowed to overrule everyone else’s.
They also pointed out that the grandma could have just bundled the boy’s dresses up and returned them to his parents rather than setting them on fire.
Meanwhile, another Reddit user suggested that the boy needs to see his parents denfend him.
“He needs to see that he can always go to you about anything and you will defend him from anyone,” they wrote.
“No one gets to upset him, that is not OK.”