Dad asks if he was wrong to play 'funny' prank on daughter for her 18th birthday.
When this dad feels weird about a prank he played on his daughter for her birthday, he asks Reddit:
'AITA for smearing cake on my daughter’s face on her birthday?'
My daughter’s 18th birthday was yesterday. On the eve of her birthday, my son(who is 16) told me about his idea to smash cake and whipped cream on his big sister’s face when she woke up.
I thought this would be funny and make my daughter laugh first thing on her birthday, so I agreed to do it with my son. I would say my biggest regret here is not telling my wife know about the plan.
My daughter woke up at 8 yesterday and when she first came to the breakfast table, my son and I were waiting. We pounced and we each grabbed a slice of chocolate cake and smeared it onto her face and I yelled happy birthday.
My wife came to our daughter’s rescue and started yelling at me all the while my daughter was just dumbfounded and shocked.
My son and I realized we made a mistake and we apologized, and my daughter went to take a shower. The rest of the day was smooth sailing and my daughter had a fun birthday besides the morning incident but she was clearly upset at her brother and I.
My wife lectured me before we slept about what happened. I get the feeling that my daughter is still upset at my son and I. AITA? We thought we would make her birthday more memorable.
pplmagazine writes:
NTA - I believe intention counts towards the reaction. It’s quite clear your intentions were to be funny, and when you realized your wife & daughter didn’t think it was funny you expressed your genuine remorse and apologized.
Had you done this at a restaurant or somewhere other than the privacy of your own home in front of you immediate family members then I may lean towards you being the AH. By no means is this assault.
SMH at the over sensitivity of our society. Again, this one boils down to intention for me. There was no malice here other than to have a little fun. I seriously doubt your daughter is scared for life and I would even go as far as to say she will probably tell this story for years to come!
unitedsloth writes:
YTA, OP. I feel like you didn't tell your wife because she would tell you that this was a terrible idea and you shouldn't enable your son to make such terrible decisions in belittling his sister.
lissabryan writes:
YTA. You started your daughter's birthday off with a deeply unpleasant experience and then laughed at her distress. If your biggest regret is that you didn't tell your wife beforehand, you're even more YTA. Pranks are usually only funny to the people who get to torment/humiliate the victim.