A Million Dollar Home, Zero Hospitality: A Reddit Family Feud
Alright lovelies, buckle up because I’ve got a juicy, drama-filled family saga for you today. This story was ripped straight from the streets of Reddit, where a beleaguered parent decided to vent their frustrations about their mother’s, let’s say, ‘unique’ hospitality.
The Millionaire Stepfather’s Dream…or Nightmare?
“My mom is on her 6th marriage, to whom she has now been married to my step dad for around 5 years. Growing up she always had super strict rules to the point you got yelled at for shoes being left by the front door.”
Did you catch that, kids? Six marriages! At this point, I’m surprised she hasn’t written a book called ‘How to Outlast Husbands and Alienate People’.
So, Mommy Dearest and her wealthy husband built this gigantic mansion on a 30-acre farm. We’re talking a place with a game room, movie theater, the works. You’d think it’d be like Disneyland on steroids, but no. It’s more like a posh prison camp.
No Fun Allowed
“They said their goal was to entertain and my moms one requirement was it was kid-friendly for her grandkids. Well the craziness started before the house was even built. The kids would bring their 4 wheelers out and would be told they could only ride in the back of the farm where you couldn’t see the tire marks from the road.”
A kid-friendly farm where kids can’t do anything remotely fun? With those rules, it sounds more like a never-ending episode of the No Fun Club.
“They treat the 30 acres as a golf resort. They built a pond with a liner for my boys to fish since that’s their biggest hobby. Well now no hooks can get close to the liner, no skipping rocks, kayaks can only be paddled in certain areas and so forth.”
Oh joy, a pond you can’t do anything with. This just in: water play has been outlawed!
The House of Hypocrisy
“It’s beautiful, with game rooms, movie room and everything someone who wanted to entertain hundreds of people would want. Yet they have a 15 guest rule.”
Imagine having a house big enough to host your small county but capping guests at 15. Talk about a masterclass in hypocrisy.
“Full of expensive furniture to the point for meals we end up eating outside or the game card table because to prevent stains. The couch has to be sat on properly, on the floors no shoes and only ‘clean’ socks, no bare feet. They won’t let their dog come in this house as he sheds and so he has his own garage.”
Poor Fido, banished to the garage because of his crime against humanity: shedding.
The Kids Just Want to Be Kids
“Then the game room can’t be used unless they are there for fear of scratches or damage. The movie theater can’t be used unless they are also in there. (I have good kids, who usually have to show them how to work all this stuff.)”
So, what we have here is a beautiful house filled with ‘do not touch’ signs. Kids want to play, but they’re met with more restrictions than a TSA checkpoint. No wonder they don’t want to visit!
Mama Drama
“So my mom was upset saying she felt like my boys didn’t want to come stay there anymore. But anytime you go it’s so unwelcoming and stressful. She blames it on my step dad as he never had kids. But growing up she was hard to please as well. So I told her the reason the kids don’t want to come is because they created this place that could be so fun, but they made it unwelcoming. Now she is upset at me and says if I can’t respect her rules, then to not come over.”
Well, honey, someone’s got to say it, and it might as well be me: You can have your million-dollar dream home, but what’s the point if no one wants to come over? It’s like buying a Bugatti and never driving it because you’re afraid of getting a scratch.
Clearly, someone forgot the golden rule of hospitality: make your guests feel welcome. If I had to follow more rules than a regatta just to visit, I’d stay home too.
Roger’s Take
Look, I get it. Expensive stuff, gorgeous house, the whole shebang. But darling, you’ve got to let the people live a little! Rules only make sense if they make life better, not if they turn your home into Alcatraz.
If you really wanted to be ‘kid-friendly,’ how about taking a chill pill and letting the little ones have their fun? Otherwise, you’ll end up with a palace of emptiness, and nobody wants that.
So, to my dear Redditor: you’re not the a**hole. You’re the only one showing a bit of sanity in this wild rollercoaster of a family drama.
Original story
So, my mom is on her 6th marriage, to whom she has now been married to my step dad for around 5 years. Growing up she always had super strict rules to the point you got yelled at for shoes being left by the front door.
At a pool party she went and bought big plastic runners to put down so not a drop of water got inside. At one point a living room that you weren’t allowed to sit on any of the furniture.
At that point she was average middle class like I am today with 2 teenagers. Jump forward 20-30 years.
Now I have 3 boys ages 8,12,16 and my mom and my step dad (who is very wealthy- I’ll get to the point of that in a second) and they live nearby. They bought a farm and built my step dad’s multimillion dollar dream home.
They said their goal was to entertain and my moms one requirement was it was kid friendly for her grandkids. Well the craziness started before the house was even built.
The kids would bring their 4 wheelers out and would be told they could only ride in the back of farm where you couldn’t see the tire marks from the road. They treat the 30 acres as a golf resort.
They built a pond with a liner for my boys to fish since that’s their biggest hobby. Well now no hooks can get close to the liner, No skipping rocks, kayaks can only be paddled in certain areas and so forth.
Then the house… it’s beautiful, with game rooms, movie room and everything someone who wanted to entertain 100s of people would want. Yet they have a 15 guest rule.
Family are divided into days to come visit. Full of expensive furniture to the point for meals we end up eating outside or the game card table because to prevent stains.
The couch has to be sat on properly, on the floors no shoes and only “clean” socks, no bare feet. They won’t let their dog come in this house as he sheds and so he has his own garage.
Then the game room can’t be used unless they are there for fear of scratches or damage. The movie theater can’t be used because unless they are also in there.
(I have good kids, who usually have to show them how to work all this stuff)
It’s so frustrating and the kids get to the point they don’t want to visit due to all the rules. So my mom was upset saying she felt like my boys didn’t want to come stay there anymore.
But anytime you go it’s so unwelcoming and stressful. She blames it on my step dad as he never had kids.
But growing up she was hard to please as well. So I told her the reason the kids dont want to come is because they created this place that could be so fun, but they made it unwelcoming.
Now she is upset at me and says if I can’t respect her rules than to not come over.