Family torn apart after father throws his 14-year-old daughter’s gift from grandma in the bin
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A concerned father has revealed how he lied to his mother-in-law and risked an argument with his wife to protect his 14-year-old from her grandmother’s cruel body shame.
On Reddit, the 42-year-old said he gave his mother-in-law a fake address when she wanted to send his daughter a crazy outfit that was “two sizes too small” – a decision he says was deliberate.
He explained that the woman had given his daughter a “crash diet book” when she was 12, leaving the youngster “devastated” and “too scared to eat her dinner.”
‘Our daughter is a healthy girl. She is very active, eager to learn and most of all happy,” he said.
A concerned father has revealed how he lied to his mother-in-law and risked an argument with his wife to protect his 14-year-old from her grandmother’s cruel body shaming
Her grandmother believes she’s not reaching her ‘full potential’, whatever that means, and thinks she’ll be on the front pages of magazines if only she could lose some weight.
“Since she made these views clear to me, I have made it my mission to block all unsupervised contact, including gifts,” he explained.
The father thought his fake address plan would work – but the package was promptly returned to the grandmother, who was furious.
“I couldn’t guarantee that I would be home to intercept gifts and that my daughter would open something addressed to her,” he said.
The plan backfired a few weeks after his daughter’s birthday.
“Both she and my wife were furious and my wife changed the address I had given her earlier. Grandma insisted it was a completely harmless package.’
The day the birthday present arrived, the father made sure he was home — and was furious when he opened it.
Inside was a spinning uniform with a bat, which would have made the perfect gift as the sport is one of the youngsters’ hobbies, but it was ‘at least’ two sizes too small.
“I sat my wife down with that stupid thing in front of us and said it was clearly intentional, which my wife refuses to admit. Now she and her mother are even angrier at me for throwing the uniform at the neighbors,” he wrote.
Thousands of people praised the father for protecting his daughter and criticized the grandmother for her behavior, many even calling it insulting.
“I applaud you for standing up for and protecting your daughter,” one man said.
“Grandma seems determined to psychologically harm your daughter, despite your best efforts to be a responsible parent,” added another.
“You are doing your best to protect your daughter from an aggressive and violent grandmother,” confirms a third.
Others criticized the girl’s mother for not standing up to her mother.
“You don’t have a MIL problem. You have a woman problem. It’s time for you and your wife to have an honest conversation about how she sees your daughter’s weight,” said one woman.
“OP has a HUGE problem at home if the woman agrees or treats this 14 year old girl like grandma. Grandma and wife are fine with giving this 14-year-old teen insecurities, eating disorders, and years of therapy,” another added.
“This is the kind of maternal neglect that ends up with children harming themselves. It needs to be dealt with quickly and forcefully,” added another.
While some said the mother probably doesn’t see the harm in her mother’s behavior because she’s “so used to it.”
The father said he threw the gift away – sparking outrage from his wife and her mother
“The woman is probably the first victim of MIL’s diet culture brainwashing, which I think is why the woman has a hard time seeing the actions because they are as harmful as they are,” said one woman.
“I think the woman needs some compassion, but also therapy and self-reflection to resolve her own problems/experiences with MIL and her antics,” she added.
Some people said they had similar experiences with their own women in their lives.
“I’ve spent my life with a mother who sees my weight as a problem, a sign of failure, and the worst thing in the world. She’s getting a little better, but I’m in my 40s. I starved/purged myself until I couldn’t lie on my stomach because my hipbones were sticking out too far and I still “wasn’t thin enough to have an eating disorder” said one woman.
Some people sided with the woman and told the father that he should have communicated with her before carrying out his plans.