Dad Wonders If He Went Too Far After Cancelling Daughter's Sweet 16 Party

Published January 12, 2022

In recent years, many parents are finding out that the strategies they once took for granted haven't been as helpful or effective as they thought.

Still, even if they find that their actual techniques are in need of a major overhaul, the need to discipline one's children still remains. Because as much as parents might like to think their kids will make the right choices in life, it's easy to underestimate how much other influences can bring out a cruel or self-destructive streak that they wouldn't have imagined exists.

And since becoming a parent means entering a whole new world of uncertainties, it's not unusual for parents to wonder if the punishments they devise are harsher than a given situation warrants.

But in the case of one dad, it seems that's one worry he can cross off what sounds like a fairly long list.

Judging by the father's description of his 15-year-old daughter's situation, it sounds like she's entering a pretty turbulent chapter in her life.

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As he explained in a Reddit post, her grades have been slipping and she's fallen in with a group of friends that have been encouraging some bad habits.

This has led him to hire some tutors for her and she's also been in therapy since she started middle school. He's also found herself having to punish her in recent times as she's made a habit of lashing out at home.

So with this context in mind, she asked if she could celebrate her 16th birthday at their house.

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And in the dad's words, "I was fine with having a party as long as she stayed out of trouble and did well on her math test."

Since it seemed like that would be a possibility, this party was scheduled for the weekend of January 14 and 10 of her friends would join her.

That is, until she was caught bringing a water bottle full of alcohol to school on January 5 in an incident that saw one of her friends sent to the school nurse.

She would later tell her dad that one of her friends pressured her into doing this.

As a result, she ended up receiving five days of in-school suspension and her dad took away her electronics.

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And since this misadventure violated the terms of their agreement, he also told her that her birthday party would be cancelled.

As he put it, "She got very upset and started screaming at me that I was the worst father in the world. She stormed up to her room and slammed the door."

Given that she still refuses to speak to him and his own parents seem to think cancelling the party was a bridge too far, he reached out to Reddit in the hopes of figuring out whether his punishment sounded appropriate.

And their verdict was that the daughter shouldn't have expected any less after what she did.

If anything, many figured she got off lucky.

As one person said, "You are a parent. And I think a pretty good one! She's lucky she wasn't expelled, honestly. She also could have gotten a minor in possession or distributing to other minors citations."

And even with these considerations aside, another person wondered what she was expecting to happen, saying, "You gave her some conditions under which the party could happen. She broke one of the conditions and now has to face the consequences. Good for you for setting boundaries."

h/t: Reddit | Stay_Alive34

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