Hey, HotTakers! It’s your favorite scribe of sass and sensibility, Roger, diving headfirst into a family quagmire that’s so juicy, you’ll need to wring out your socks after wading through this drama. Buckle up, buttercups, because we’re embarking on a wild ride through the perilous peaks of paternal priorities, with a hefty side of sibling rivalry. And remember, this spicy slice of life is courtesy of a real Reddit story from a real person craving some of that sweet, sweet internet validation. Let’s dissect, shall we?
**Chapter 1: The Bomb Drop**
Imagine, if you will, an 18-year-old ready to prance across the stage, diploma in hand, only for dear old dad to say, ‘Sorry, champ, your stepsister’s award ceremony is calling my name.’ Ouch. Our protagonist’s dad decided playing favorite was the play of the day, choosing stepsis’s accolade over his own flesh and blood’s once-in-a-lifetime high school graduation. You can practically hear the familial bonds cracking, can’t you?
**Chapter 2: The History of Favoritism**
It seems our leading man’s woes began years prior when dad remarried and a new stepsister entered the scene. Since then, it’s been an endless parade of prioritizing ‘little princess’ over our guy. Basketball games, family days, even financial pinch-hits for birthday gifts have seen our hero playing second fiddle to Cinderella-without-a-bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. And now, graduation is just another casualty in this ongoing war of paternal preference.
**Chapter 3: The Fallout**
When faced with his father’s decision, our protagonist delivered a line colder than any revenge served: ‘There is no making up for that.’ With a heart heavier than a sack of potatoes, he declared his future free from daddy dearest’s clutches. Cue the dramatic exit stage left and the eruption of familial tensions.
Dad and stepmom? They’re floundering in the ‘Should’ve Thought That Through Sea,’ with stepmom playing a guilt-tripping tune on the world’s smallest violin, arguing our protagonist should skip his own graduation in favor of stepsister’s award. The nerve, right?
**Chapter 4: Roger’s Hot Take**
If you’re skimming through waiting for the piping hot verdict, brace yourselves. In the grand scheme of familial faux pas, Daddy Dearest just signed up for a lifetime membership in the Hall of Shame. Skipping your child’s graduation for a stepsibling’s event isn’t just an oopsie-daisy; it’s a Titanic-level iceberg on the voyage of fatherhood.
Sure, life is about tough choices, but this? This was a test of allegiance, and let’s just say dad’s compass didn’t point north towards ‘Father of the Year.’ The stepsister might indeed be a peach, but graduations are milestones, not footnotes on the journey of life.
The verdict? Not only is our Reddit friend NTA (Not The A-hole), but he just graduated summa cum laude from the School of Standing Up for Yourself. Dad, meanwhile, flunked out of Emotional Intelligence 101.
So there you have it, folks—a tale as old as time, with a modern twist. Family might be forever, but respect? That’s earned. And in this story, it’s the dad who’s left with extra homework.
Until the next hot take unspools, keep your sass strong and your takes hotter. Roger out.
Original story
I’m (18m) graduating high school at the end of this month. My dad dropped the bomb on me two nights ago that his stepdaughter (14f) has an award ceremony for some competition she entered and won in another state on that same day and that she really wants him to be there. He told me he couldn’t possibly make it to both and since his wife and their children together will be going, he needs to be there too. He told me he would make it up to me and we could celebrate another time.
I still live with him (not for much longer). My mom died when I was 7 and my dad got married again when I was 11 or 12. It’s been a few years anyway. His stepdaughter never knew her bio dad, so my dad has accepted her as his own. And he has prioritized her a lot in the last 5/6 years. It doesn’t always show in the most obvious ways but it can be felt. Father/son time was put on an indefinite hiatus and instead dad told me we needed to include her in our time together but he also spent time with just her for father/daughter time. I brought it up to my dad and he told me I wasn’t exactly making an effort to be closer to her so he wanted us all to bond and didn’t want me to just focus on my relationship with him.
He has attended her dance things instead of my basketball games if they’re on at the same time. It doesn’t matter if mine was known about first, he will still skip my stuff to go to hers.
He will take us on family days and whenever he and his wife say “kids can choose” he picks her choices over mine. He claims it’s because they will be the most fun for everyone but really, he even says it afterward, anything his little princess wants.
Our refrigerator and our shower broke at the same time. His stepdaughter’s birthday was coming up so he took money from my birthday fund to pay for that stuff and so his stepdaughter would definitely get what she wanted (this barbie house thing and a whole fashion set and they were I think dad said $250). He didn’t get all the money back by the time my birthday came around so instead he bought me a $30 gift card for Steam when he had promised me a new monitor and keyboard for my computer (that was a gift from my grandparents).
When my dad told me he wouldn’t be at my graduation to go and support her, I told him there is no making up for that and he can forget about being included in my life going forward. He told me he would make it up to me and I told him I will always come second to his little princess and I’m not going to be okay with that. I told him he’s discarded me for the last time. Dad begged me to be reasonable but I walked away. Then I invited both sets of grandparents who agreed to come. His wife told me I could have come with them and I don’t need to attend the ceremony but could support “my sister”. I said her daughter’s not my sister and I do not want to support their family anymore and I will be out of their hair soon. She called me selfish and told me I can’t deny her daughter a dad.
AITA?