A parent giving a wrapped Christmas present.Photo:Getty
Getty
A Redditor has turned to the Internet after an argument with his wife over his daughter’s Christmas present made him question his actions.
The original poster (OP) took to Reddit’sAmITheA—— subredditto ask if he was in the wrong for defending his daughter after his wife pulled a mean-spirited holiday prank.
Explaining that his 17-year-old daughter Kayla had been asking for a laptop for a while, OP said that although money has been tight, he and his wife saved up to surprise their daughter with one on Christmas. But when OP came home from work one day, he found his daughter upset, his son pleased and his wife in a mood.
“I asked my wife in private what was going on. She started venting to me that Kayla is an ungrateful brat, we should return her gift, etc. She then explained that she and our son had decided to pull a small prank [on] our daughter,” OP explained.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Wrapped Christmas presents.Getty
OP’s 15-year-old son Martin told Kayla that instead of the laptop, Kayla would be getting the amount the laptop would cost in gift cards to various stores because her mom felt “she wasn’t ready for one.” Kayla got upset and asked her mom if it was true, to which the mom responded yes and added “maybe next year.”
“Kayla got very upset and said this wasn’t fair, she had only asked for one thing. Clearly money wasn’t an issue. My wife admits she started laughing, which made Kayla even more upset and she told my wife she was a jerk,” OP continued.
Though his wife feels like Kayla “showed her true colors,” OP pointed out that Kayla had reacted well when told they her didn’t have enough money for a laptop.
Wrapped presents.Getty
“It seems that the issue was knowing we had the money and could’ve bought it, but allegedly didn’t. I asked her what she expected to come from this little prank and called her childish for roping Martin into it,” OP shared.
He then noted that he told his wife he would not be returning the laptop and made his wife tell Kayla she pranked her, which prompted his daughter to apologize for calling her a jerk, but reiterated that the prank was hurtful.
“My wife refused to apologize and doubled down that she doesn’t feel Kayla deserves [the laptop].” He then asked the Reddit community if he was truly in the wrong for not wanting to return the present.
“Of course you’re NTA. But your wife is,” one commenter said. “She’s a grown woman who knowingly upset your daughter, but why? I think for this exact reason. Obviously she knows Kayla would be hurt, the ‘prank’ was mean spirited and probably engineered to get a reaction from Kayla that she deemed unacceptable so that she could have Kayla’s gift returned.”
“Seems like there [are] some issues there that your wife needs to sort out, maybe she’s got some jealousy for your daughter, I don’t know. But I don’t know why she would plan a cruel prank and then want to take her only Christmas gift from her as punishment.”
“Even if she should be punished, which to be clear, I do not think she should be, taking the laptop would be far too extreme.”
source: people.com
