Naming your baby is a huge decision for any parent as it's likely you are choosing the name that your child will go by for the rest of their life. However, one dad has stirred up some controversy as he admitted he told his six-year-old daughter he 'never liked' her 'grandma' name after she came home from school in tears because other kids were teasing her for it.
The man took to Reddit to explain his daughter's name is Mildred and he strongly 'fought' against the name when his wife was pregnant but his determined wife made the decision, the Mirror reports. However, when the little girl told her father she was being bullied for her old fashioned name, he chose not to comfort her but instead told her he also thought her name was 'stupid' and she could change it in the future.
In a post on Reddit, he wrote: "Mildred. That's my 6-year-old daughter's name. I fought so hard to not have her named that, but my wife was dead set on it. Who even names their kid Mildred anymore? Are we in the 19th century or something? And plus I know how kids are.
"Sure enough, I picked up my daughter from school today and usually she's excited when I pick her up, but she was quiet. I kept asking her what was wrong and when we were almost home, she finally confessed and said that someone in her class had said that her name 'sounded like a grandma'. Basically, old.
"She said she didn't like her name anymore, and I tried to sympathize by saying, 'I'm sorry kiddo. Yeah, I never liked your name either. I thought it was a stupid name when I first heard it, but everyone in the family thought it was okay, and I got shot down.
"But on the bright side, you can change it when you get older.' We were in the garage by then and she looked at me in horror and said, 'You don't like my name either?', and she opened the door, crying, and ran inside before I could catch her.
"She told her mother that I said her name was stupid (somehow she also forgot to mention the kid in her class who started it) and even after I explained the whole situation to my wife, she was mad and wanted me to apologise." The insensitive dad believes he didn't need to apologise because he was telling the truth and couldn't understand why his daughter had started crying.
He also claimed his daughter would soon "forget" the situation so he wasn't "worried" about needing to apologise to her. He added: "I refused. I said, 'apologise for what? I don't like the name, I never liked the name, and our daughter doesn't even like the name.
"I was mad at the moment, too, so I walked away but later I tried to talk to our daughter and ask why she just started crying like that because I was genuinely confused (still am, to be honest) but all she said was that she wasn't 'happy at me' and that she didn't want to talk to me right at the moment.
"I'm not too worried about my daughter because she's 6, so she'll probably forget it by tomorrow or like a week at most, but my wife is really mad at me right now because she was telling me that I should apologise, and I kept saying no. I think she just feels guilty that she named our daughter Mildred.
However, social media users were left gobsmacked by the man's harsh post and were quick to side with his wife as they criticised him for telling his six-year-old daughter what he thought of her name. Many argued that as a young child, she doesn't have the ability to separate her dad not liking her name from her dad not liking her as a person and that she was likely 'never forget' his comment.
One person responded: "She's 6. The last thing she needed to hear is that her parent doesn't like her name. A 6-year-old is not equipped to separate rejecting her name from rejecting her."
While another commented: "Your young daughter now thinks that her dad hates her name and thinks it's stupid. She shouldn't feel that way as a child, ever."
A third wrote: "Oh yikes, this was a train wreck from start to finish. Regardless of personal feelings, you really needed to be a united front with your wife here, if only to make your child feel safe and loved. Your kid will never forget you saying you didn't like their name."
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