"AITA for 'stealing' my child’s birthday money?"
Last week it was my (36M) son’s 10th birthday. We threw a big party for him with lots of extended family on both sides. Both me and my ex-wife (35F) have very large families and since my son is older now, I instructed them to gift money rather than lots of toys that he wouldn’t use.
I also thought this would be a good learning opportunity to teach him about financial responsibility. No one had any issue with this and all gave cash.
The party went well, we all had a great time, and by the end of the day my son had ended up with quite a lot of money. I told him the amount he had and he seemed really excited. We cleared up and I went to pay it in to the bank for him.
Side note: I’m a bit of a collector. I collect vintage cereal boxes and have done since my early 20s. I have amassed quite the collection over the years and it is worth lots. I hope to use part of it to pay for my son’s college tuition.
That evening, I stumbled across a 1963 Post Toasties cornflakes box, which would complete my 63’ core collection. It was one I’d been after for a while but had never been able to buy before, so naturally I was very excited.
The price was just over the amount my son was given for his birthday. I thought it over and given that this would complete a major aspect of my collection it would boost the value as a whole - I decided to kill two birds with one stone by using this to teach my son about investment and also provide for his future.
I told my son I had something to show him and called him into my office. I explained that this box was going to go up in value and would pay for his college one day - his birthday present this year. I bought the box and he thanked me. A couple days later I received a phone call from my ex, asking for some of the birthday money.
Apparently, my son had asked for a large Lego set. When I explained that there was no money left and my son knew this, she was furious and is now accusing me of stealing our son’s money. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong as I was just providing for my son and teaching him important life lessons - but AITA?
Here's what people had to say to OP:
Key-Bit1208 wrote:
You used your son’s money to buy something that YOU wanted to complete YOUR collection and you are congratulating yourself that you swindled a child by lying to him that it’s an ‘investment’ towards his college degree. YTA
toxicredox wrote:
YTA. You stole and used your son's money to complete your collection, then tried to make it into a life lesson about investment.
Meanwhile, collectibles are not a safe investment - you have no idea if your collection will be worth enough to cover the cost of college in eight years. Even if it it is, what if you can't find a buyer willing to meet it, OP?
OP responded:
As a collector for the past 15 years I have seen the values of items in my collection increase massively and also understand the collecting community very well.
I have many friends who I know have sold their items at high prices to willing buyers and would not have done this had I not been confident about the future of my collection.
Jenny-Thalia wrote:
YTA, if you're too broke to pay for a cereal box, don't buy a cereal box. You've ensured your child got no gifts for his birthday, because you took literally all of his gifts by spending all of his money.
Key-Bit1208 wrote:
“I stole my kids birthday money to buy an old cardboard box, AITA?”
Yes YTA