Woman gets called 'superficial Disney mom' by other mom on joint family vacay. AITA?
When this mom feels like she made a parenting error in front of other parents, she asks Reddit:
'AITA for doing a photoshoot with mine and my friend’s daughters?'
I (31f) am on holiday with my husband, my friend Tom, his wife Val, our daughters (7&8) and Tom and Val’s son (2). Our daughters get along great because they’re both very into fashion/clothes/anything aesthetic.
Yesterday, the girls asked me if I would do a photoshoot with them, as in they would take pictures of me. They wanted to do it that way because apparently it was “more real” since I am older and had “fancy clothes”.
I let them dress me up and did my make up properly for them and let them direct me around for a few hours while taking some out of focus shots on my Canon camera (the dads got roped in to move garden furniture around). A fun day was had by all.
Apparently this royally ticked off Val, who yesterday evening told me I shouldn’t have been playing “Barbie” for young girls, and that at their age they need to learn there’s more to life than looks.
I argued that it wasn’t about looks, fashion and photography are art and if the kids have a passion for that or enjoy it, that’s not vanity. Val rolled her eyes and walked off, but later told Tom she felt like the whole thing was me stroking my ego, trying to prove to the girls that I was the “Disney mom”.
Val was in a mood this morning and Tom, her, and their kids have taken a “family day” to the beach even though we’d all planned to go out on the boat today. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong but if she’s making this big a deal out of it, maybe I’ve overstepped some boundary? AITA?
Let's see what readers had to say.
littlion writes:
NTA. Just sounds like Val is jealous the girls didn't ask her. But that's the point, THEY asked you. You didn't bring it up, but you did encourage their creativity and curiosity. Nothing wrong with that at all.
fuzzymic writes:
NTA - You were playing camera with your daughters. I think everyone is making it way more than it is. 'Re-enforcing an attitude of superficiality and vanity' No, its playing.
And frankly I think that their 'love of photography and art' is closer to their desire to be astronauts or cowgirls. All the adults are putting too much adult interpretation on two kids playing with their mom. NTA.
okcontext writes:
NTA. At all. But, you said a few hours? That's a bit much, right? Also, being as objective as you can, are you much prettier than Val? Could be a bit of insecurity or jealousy.