The internet has slammed a man who got mad at his sister-in-law for calling her husband during his bachelor weekend because their toddler wanted to say he "loved him."
In a post shared on Sunday on Reddit, his sister-in-law, under the username u/remo90, explained that when her husband left for his brother's bachelor weekend, their 2-year-old son was very upset because he forgot to tell his dad he loved him. They face timed him, "in the hopes it would calm [the toddler] down."
The Mayo Clinic says that young children "don't plan to frustrate or embarrass their parents," explaining that tantrums are a way to express frustration.
In some cases, however, in older children, tantrums might be a learned behavior to get what they want. If parents reward tantrums with something the child wants, the tantrums are likely to continue.
The best way to respond to a tantrum is to stay calm and try to distract your child, avoiding loud angry outbursts that might be imitated. When the child has calmed down, rules can be explained.
What the woman planned on being to be a five-minute call dragged on for over an hour, and other people on the bachelor weekend "were getting impatient."
She said: "My brother-in-law texted me later on and was upset with me because I had called my husband. He said he was just asking me to give him one weekend of my husband's time and if I needed help I should ask his parents or get a nanny.
"He thinks I used my son as an excuse to check in on my husband which annoyed me so we had an argument through texts because I told him I'd call my husband whenever I wanted to."
The post first shared on the r/AmItheA**hole community, where people discuss their questionable actions with impartial strangers, has been upvoted over 9,300 times and received about 2,100 comments.
The top comment, by SDstartingOut, with 13,100 upvotes says: "Based on OP's other responses… clearly [NotTheA**hole]. It could have been a 2-minute call if it needed to be.
"Husband chose to keep it so long. Brother should speak to husband, not to OP. info: Am I correct in assuming, your husband was not at all annoyed by this? And he was the one that chose to stay on the phone with your son for an hour?"
Another user, chaotic_nuclear said: "Yeah I get that [brother-in-law] might want his brother to himself for a weekend but just because he's left the house your husband doesn't stop being a father. The expectation that men can just ignore their kids for a weekend is insane."
And sylance9 wrote: "I totally feel this from the bottom of my soul. My toddler is JUST like this. If we're in the car and dad calls (it goes onto speaker) and we talk and say bye but if my toddler doesn't specifically say goodbye to daddy he pitches the absolute hugest fit screaming CALL HIM BACK, NEED SAY BYE BYE DADDY, BYE BYE DADDY!
"Like full-on wailing. The other day this happened and my husband had a conference call and couldn't answer and I was driving on literal eggshells with him screaming and crying in the back because he didn't say bye bye… when I finally got a hold of him and he said bye bye…that was that…fit done, like it never happened.
Newsweek reached out to u/remo90 for comment. We could not verify the details of the story.
If you have a similar family dilemma, let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
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Maria Azzurra Volpe is a Newsweek Lifestyle Reporter based in London. Her focus is reporting on lifestyle and trends-related stories, ... Read more
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