Man Cancels Dinner Plans to Celebrate with His Daughter Because His Stepson Was Upset

A man who heads a family with a dicey dynamic finds himself in a situation that involves him breaking a promise to his daughter to appease his stepson and wife.

A father of two took to Reddit to share his predicament and determine if he was wrong for a family decision he recently made. The man was initially living with his wife and stepson while his daughter lived with his ex-wife, but that changed when she left home and never returned.

This seemed to be a trend for the ex-wife going by the man's statement about her "24 hours disappearing acts." When she failed to return this time around, the daughter moved in with her father and family.

The children were at odds from the outset, and it only got worse as the two of them were attending the same middle school and decided to run for the same student council position.

The race for the office of Vice President got heated. The man shared a tangible tension in the house between his 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old stepson.

The rift widened when the wife promised that they would take the son out if he won the election, making the daughter ask if the same would apply to her since he wasn't her only competition, and the mother agreed.

A reader pointed out that her mother had just walked out on her, and she didn't need that sought of energy from her dad.

Election day came after a stressful campaign, and the daughter won the Vice Presidency by four votes. The son was offered a conciliatory position as Treasurer because the initial candidate had to step down due to low grades.

This seemed to worsen matters as the stepson found it pitiful that he had to answer to the daughter in her capacity as the Vice President and was he very upset.

The wife felt the same way but congratulated the daughter. She also offered to take the son to her law office to get some responsibilities, which would surpass whatever experience he could get from the Student Council.

The son rejected the offer and refused to take consolation in the fact that the daughter was older and, as such, knew more people. He was so sad, and the father felt sorry for him.

The straw that broke the camel's back came when the son asked the father if he was still going to subject him to the daughter's celebratory dinner. Backed by the wife's mixed feelings, he called off the outing.

The man told his daughter about this on Friday, pinning it on their need to be sensitive to the son's emotions while adding that it was wrong for her to boast. The little girl did not handle the news well as she cried all night and stayed angry at the family.

The readers told the man that he was at fault while coming at it from different angles. A reader said he had invalidated his daughter's success, while another said he had taught her to take the back seat to the male gender.

A third reader pointed out that her mother had just walked out on her, and she didn't need that sought of energy from her dad. Here's a similar story about a girl who refuses to take care of her brother when they are older.