Internet Slams Woman Forcing Her Daughters to Bring Friend's Kid on Their Vacation

Now that international travel is opened up to Americans again, many people are planning once-in-a-lifetime trips after being unable to leave their homes. One mother decided to pay for her twin daughter's trip to Italy for their birthday, but there was one condition which she shared on Reddit's popular "Am I The A**hole" forum.

The woman was blasted online after she took to Reddit for some parenting advice under the username u/Jazzlike_Ad492. She asked if she was "the a**hole" for wanting her daughters, 21, to bring along her best friend's younger kid. That's where she was told she was being completely unfair.

In the post, the woman explained that for her twin daughters' birthday gift she was paying for their two-week trip to Italy. But although the Italian borders have been opened to travelers, the country is currently in a state of emergency due to COVID.

For Americans to travel into the country, they must provide proof of vaccination and a negative test. Otherwise, travelers are subject to a five-day quarantine. However, unvaccinated Americans can fly into Italy and not quarantine if they travelled on a "COVID-tested" flight.

In the Reddit post, the mother went on to say that her best friend Diane has an 18-year-old daughter who had a hard time making friends. She explained that her friend's daughter, Lori, and her twin daughters used to be close when they were younger, but drifted apart when they became teenagers.

"Diane asked me if my daughters could try to include Lori in their social lifes [sic], so she isn't lonely all the time," the post read.

User u/Jazzlike_Ad492 said she talked to her daughters and that one of them, Tami, felt bad for Lori's situation. The post said the twins started to talk to Lori more and even invited her over to hang out together in their dorm room at college and go out.

But their mom said she wanted them to take things with Lori to the next level.

"I thought that the next step was to invite Lori to the trip to Italy," the post explained. "First, I talked with Diane about it and she agreed. She said that Lori has been happier since she started seeing my daughters again."

The post went on to explain that Lori's mom agreed to pay for her trip to Italy if she was invited to join. But the twins were not keen on traveling with 18-year-old Lori.

"They say that Lori is too childish and would prevent them from having more adult fun in Italy," the post explained. "I think they are being really selfish and mean. Also ungrateful to me, considering I am paying everything. We have been arguing and I more or less said that Lori is going with them, even if they don't want to. Am I the A**hole?"

Nearly 2,000 users commented on the post and the woman was voted by the forum as "the a**hole" in the situation.

Mother Blasted on Reddit for Helicopter Parenting
A mother was slammed online after she explained that she was sending her twin daughters, 21, to Italy for a two-week trip for their birthday but that she wanted them to bring her best friend's... SHansche/Getty Images

"YTA. Your daughters are grown up young ladies," one user wrote. "You shouldn't be making play dates for them anymore. They might enjoy Lori's company for dinner or an outing but they don't want to spend two weeks with her. You are giving a gift with strings attached which is not a nice thing to do."

Another user said that Diane was also in the wrong for trying to push friends on Lori unnaturally. "YTA and so is Diane," the user wrote. "You shouldn't dictate your daughter's lifes [sic] anymore at this age."

Other users in the comments wondered why Lori was friendless.

"My guess is her Copter mom," one user said. "Probably micro managed her friend groups so intensely Lori has no clue how to make her own friends."

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Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more

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