A mother has revealed how she told her daughter that she was being selfish after she refused to share her birthday gifts with her sister.
Posting on Reddit, the mother explained that she was a single mom to her daughter, Amy, before she tied the knot with her wife Jenna, who also has a daughter named Nora.
“It was kind of hard for Amy to adjust to having a second mom, but they got along well,” she continued.
The mother went on and said that Amy and Nora’s birthdays were only two days apart so they have decided to have a joint birthday party for them.
“Most of my family lives out of the country, so the gifts were sent a week early. It was a huge bag, with at least 20 gifts. The party was nice and we opened the bag at night once everyone left,” she continued.
But when Jenna started handing out the gifts, she realized that her daughter Nora only received one present while Amy got 12.
“Nora pretended it wasn’t a big deal, but as she opened the present I saw her eyes drop. It was a $15 tumbler from Walmart,” she expressed.
On the other hand, Amy received lots of gift cards over $100, designer clothes, limited-edition Funkos, and a new smart phone.
“Nora was clearly hurt, since it’s not the first time my family has left her out,” she said, adding that she called out her parents and other relatives who sent gifts for not considering Nora’s feelings.
But when the mom asked her 15-year-old daughter to share some of her gifts with Nora, the teen refused right away.
“This surprised me, since she never had a problem with sharing and even though she and Nora are not BFF’s, they usually get along.”
After asking her daughter to share her gifts, she started crying and said that she never wanted a joint birthday party.
The young girl also told her mom that she was ‘forced to share everything with Nora.’
“They share a room for space and I make sure they’re both invited to the same parties and sleepovers so that Nora won’t be left out. If they don’t invite both of them, then neither of them goes,” she added.
Amy then told her mom that she at least wanted her own gifts to be hers alone.
“I scolded her for being selfish with her stepsister, grounded her and took a couple of the presents to give to Nora. She turned them down because she didn’t want problems with Amy and it felt like pity,” she added.
The mom was left wondering if she was in the wrong for forcing her daughter to share her birthday gifts with her stepsister.
Reddit users were quick to share their thoughts on the matter, with one person saying: “I know you are trying your best, but your mistake was to have a joint party in the first place. Amy is a teenager and is developmentally looking to forge her own identity. This means not existing as a package deal with Nora.”
Another wrote: “You are basically asking your daughter to share her complete identity with Nora. Her room, her stuff, her family, her friends, her birthday party, the parties she goes to, sleepovers is there anything really hers? This can’t be good for her development. She needs to be her own person.”
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