A father has shared how his daughter accused him of favoritism after he rewarded his stepdaughter even though she received bad exam results.
Posting on Reddit, the man explained that his daughter Alexis, 17, and stepdaughter Zoe, 18, are both in year 12 but they are ‘opposites when it comes to school.’
He said that Alexis has impressive grades but Zoe always struggled to get Cs despite trying hard and being tutored.
“Both girls are great even if both have their flaws. So I plan to reward both girls for finishing school and their results/efforts,” the father continued.
He also explained that Zoe was proud of herself even though she passed without an ‘amazing’ grade. But the problem started after the two girls finished their exams.
“The issue is yesterday Alexis had her math methods exam and Zoe had her business exam,” he continued.
“Alexis refused to give more than one word answers as usual, so I left it at saying I’m proud of her and sure she did great.”
The father continued: “Zoe on the other hand was happy with how it went, telling me she managed to finish and felt really confident on it. Considering last week she was crying because she couldn’t finish English (it’s designed so most students don’t or barely), it was an achievement.
“I was really proud of her and let her know, making sure to be supportive.”
But Alexis got upset and claimed that he was being unfair. “She thinks I’m proud of Zoe despite her being worse, so she must be the favorite – even though I literally told Alexis I was proud of her earlier.
“She’s valedictorian and I’ll eat my hat if she doesn’t get into uni. But I’m not going to not be proud of Zoe because she’s getting worse results.”
The dad said he thought it was just right to reward both of them as ‘Alexis has better grades but Zoe put in a lot more effort.’
Reddit users assured the father that he was not in the wrong, with one person commenting: “I was the kid who did well, and my sister struggled. My mum always praised my sister and boasted about her slightest achievement but did not praise me even when I achieved something important (at least for me).
“Instead, she acted like it was obvious I would be able to achieve it. In my mum’s mind, it’s perfectly reasonable that she needed to provide more support to the weaker one (not my words, she told that to me when I asked her once).
“That hurt me as a kid and even now it does. It also damaged my relationship with my mum and sister. Please make sure you are not doing that to Alexis while encouraging Zoe.”
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