A Redditor’s Child-Free Friend Infuriated Netizens With Her Behavior Towards OP’s Son
Women are now free to choose whether they’ll build a family or be child-free. The current generation is more vocal about their choices and decisions that will affect their future. Whatever path a woman ends up with or chooses to have, people should respect that. Neither should be looked down on, especially when everyone’s trying their best and are happy in their current position. Friends and family are the first people that must accept that choice. Regardless of the differences in principles and outlook in life, respect should be given. Even if it’s hard to understand, a loved one must refrain from giving insensitive suggestions.
Friends often have trouble adjusting to differences in their friends’ lives, which sometimes causes an issue. But they have to meet in the middle. One friend can be a mother, and the other one can be child-free. The friendship could work if consideration and patience are present. However, if your friend is as insensitive as CitronThis3941’s friend, then you’ll be infuriated as well. OP brought her complaint to Reddit to ask other people if she did something unacceptable. Netizens immediately came to her rescue, especially when the issue wasn’t her fault in the first place. She’s a mother, yet her demanding guest acted as if OP’s child was a complete nuisance.
CitronThis3941 shared that she has a nine-month-old son — the baby that made her friend uncomfortable. “I have a playpen he often goes in, and I will put him in his crib for naptime. I have a friend (32F) who is pretty vocally child-free, and they came over to plan for another friend’s bachelorette party. I was holding my son when she arrived,” OP wrote. “She arrives, comes in, and I can tell she is uncomfortable. I’m holding him, and she asks me if I can put my son in a different room. I say no…my husband is golfing, and he is awake, so I want to watch him. I put him in the nearby playpen, but he is just doing the happy baby yelling type stuff.”
The suggestion was unnecessarily insensitive, as if OP’s son was just an object that can be left unsupervised. Verbally expressing disdain when the child hasn’t done anything wrong is certainly rude. And the root cause of the demanding guest’s behavior was that CitronThis3941 apparently said the “same” thing. OP visited her friend’s house before, and she asked if the dog could be transferred to another room. “I told her that is very different, and I’ll leave him in his playpen. She starts arguing with me, and I tell her she can leave, we can do this another time,” OP shared. Babies are a different matter, since they’re accident-prone when alone. The friend failed to realize that mothers are wired to look out for their children.
“NTA. I’m also what one might call “vocally child-free.” That doesn’t mean I hate children,” BunnyandWhatnot commented. “Just because your ‘friend’ doesn’t want to be a mother doesn’t mean she gets to shame your choice.” Kids should not be involved in any issue between adults. Choosing to be child-free does not give OP’s friend the right to be rude and demanding like that. Also, even before she arrived as a guest, she was aware that a toddler lives with her friend.
The comment section was filled with infuriated Redditors. They have been calling out the friend for having a terrible take on being child-free. It was indeed unacceptable, considering that the two shared a friendship. Whether it was due to her perspective about kids or getting revenge, she’s not in the position to meddle with OP’s parenting at home. If CitronThis3941’s story hits close to home, you may share your thoughts below her post. And if you are also vocal about being child-free, let OP know that not everyone thinks the same way as her demanding guest.
