In life, sometimes we are confronted with unusual and unexpected problems, especially within the family. These issues can be particularly challenging to handle.
A teenager took to Reddit to share her worries over how she dealt with a complicated situation involving her father cheating on her mother. It appeared that everyone in the immediate family was aware of the affair, but nobody had dared to address it openly.
When she finally decided to confront her father in front of the extended family, chaos ensued. Not everyone supported her way of dealing with it, leaving the teenager questioning if she had done the right thing.
While the title sounds dramatic, please bear with me.
My dad and I have never really had a good relationship. Due to his high-ranking job at a bank, he works incredibly long hours and frequently travels for business. My siblings and I were mainly raised by my mom, to whom I’m really close. Our conversations are rare and usually revolve around my poor grades and his disappointment in me. I’ve tried to stay out of his way.
As I got older—I’m 16 now—I began noticing my dad’s odd behavior. A few months ago, he came home late, smelling of perfume. Initially, I brushed it off. But one day, he left his phone unattended, and I saw a text notification that read, “last night was amazing, can’t wait to see you again,” followed by a string of cheesy emojis. That certainly shocked me. I told my mom what I had discovered, but she wasn’t surprised. She got emotional and asked me to focus on being a kid, assuring me that she would handle the situation. To avoid hurting her, I let it go.
Here’s how things unfolded. Last night, we had a big family dinner at my grandparents’ house. During dinner, my cousin announced his new job at a software company. My dad seized the chance to criticize me, saying I should follow my cousin’s example and focus more on school. I tried to ignore him and continued eating. My uncle chimed in, complaining about how difficult it is to get through to young people today. My dad added that it was due to a lack of respect, and noted that I never respected him. Fed up with his hypocrisy, I blurted out, “It’s hard to respect you when you openly cheat on Mom and don’t even try to hide it.”
The room fell silent, and my dad looked furious. He demanded to know what I was talking about and accused my mom of spoiling me. They started arguing, and despite others trying to calm them, my mom eventually told me and my siblings that we were leaving and instructed my dad not to come home. When we got home, my phone was flooded with messages. My cousins in our group chat called me a major jerk for airing private matters publicly. My uncles also sent texts and left voicemails, blaming me for ruining my parents’ marriage and advising me to stay out of adult issues. Feeling guilty, I apologized to my mom. She admitted that while I could have handled it better privately, what’s done is done. I’ve received several calls from my dad since, but I’ve ignored all of them. He hasn’t come home, likely staying with one of his mistresses.
Even now, I feel terrible about what happened. I was just so frustrated with his hypocrisy and wanted to get him off my back. Am I the asshole?
