Man Backed For Giving Girlfriend Silent Treatment Over Son's Spilled Drink

A man said in a now-viral post that he gave his girlfriend the silent treatment after her 9-year-old son spilled a drink in his car. Posting in Reddit's "Am I The A******" (AITA) forum under the username u/IrregularScrotum, the man said his reaction to the spilled drink upset his girlfriend. So, he asked commenters: "AITA for giving the silent treatment after my girlfriend's son spilled in my car?" The post has garnered over 10,000 upvotes and prompted a discussion about "boundaries." You can read the full post here. In his post, the man explained that he bought a new car at the beginning of the year and implemented a "no food" policy. Before taking his girlfriend to see family last weekend, the man reminded her of this rule, and she agreed to abide by it. But at one point during the ride, her son got hungry. So, the man stopped off at a gas station. "After about 20 minutes, they [came] back to the car [with] slushies. I [stopped] them and [told] them that they [couldn't] drink that in my car, and she [said] they [couldn't] possibly finish it fast enough without making us more late," the man wrote.

The couple argued about the slushies, but the man eventually gave in. Thirty minutes later, however, his girlfriend's son fell asleep and spilled his slushy "all over the back seat." "I yelled 'f***' and pulled over to clean it up," he said. "After cleaning it up, I got back in the driver's seat and just drove. I was bloody livid but knew fighting or arguing over this wouldn't solve anything. Still, I was in no mood to talk, so I just remained silent for the rest of the ride." Later that night, he received a text from his girlfriend calling him a "d***head," so he wanted to know: "AITA?"

Expert Advice

In general, Rebecca Hendrix, a licensed marriage and family therapist, advises people to ask their partners how they should respond to their children when the kids inevitably mess up or make a mistake. "Before spending time with your partner's children, ask the parent how they would like you to respond if their child does something that may upset you. Because they are not your children, in most cases, you would not show you're upset to the child, but speak to the parent when the child is not around and discuss how it should be handled," Hendrix told Newsweek. That being said, Hendrix said u/IrregularScrotum had every right to be upset with his girlfriend because she'd crossed a boundary. "In any relationship, we should be able to communicate our needs, set boundaries and also be flexible when needed. When dating someone with children, there are extra factors to consider, such as children's needs, their ages and what developmental stage they are in," Hendrix said. "In [this] example, there was a choice of not drinking a slushy in the car. The mom knew this and seemingly disregarded her boyfriend's ask," Hendrix continued. "It's a reasonable ask [...] He asked for his need to be met, and it wasn't. Now would be the moment to talk to the mom and ask what a reasonable expectation is going forward and how they can navigate his desire for a clean car vs. her desire to have her kids eat in the car."

Redditors React

Redditors agreed that u/IrregularScrotum's anger was justified and slammed his girlfriend for crossing a boundary. "NTA [not the a******]. You made it very clear how important the car being clean is to you. They ignored your boundaries, and exactly what you were afraid of happening happened," u/fnub577 said. "NTA. You clearly told them no food or drink before they got in. If they were hungry, they could have had water or something with a cap or lid," u/PopulationMe wrote. "She should have used that opportunity to teach her son [to have] respect for someone else's property instead of expecting you to give them a free pass." u/dekebasswood added: "NTA. You set a firm clear boundary. Your girlfriend ignored it. And that resulted in your car getting messed up, which is what you feared. Your response [of] ignoring her was proportionate to her offense. She doesn't care about you, Dude." Newsweek has reached out to u/IrregularScrotum for comment. We could not verify the details of this case.

More Viral Posts

On Tuesday, Redditors lent their support to a woman who recently kicked her niece out of the house. On Monday, online commenters backed a man who left his date "stranded" because he "felt like a third wheel." And last week, Redditors bashed a woman who "insisted" that her boyfriend switch meals with her because she didn't like what she ordered.