A dad has sparked controversy online after admitting he told his six-year-old daughter he "never liked" her "grandma" name. He said that to her face after she came home in floods of tears because other children were teasing her over her name.
The man took to Reddit to explain his daughter is called Mildred and he strongly "fought" against the name when his wife was pregnant but she 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 the Reddit post, he wrote: "Mildred. That's my six-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.
Read more: Nottingham bar closing two days a week to save on energy costs
"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 sympathise 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 OK, 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 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 six, so she'll probably forget it by tomorrow or 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."
Many people commenting were stunned. One of them said: "She's six. The last thing she needed to hear is that her parent doesn't like her name. A six-year-old is not equipped to separate rejecting her name from rejecting her."
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."
Why not sign up to one of our newsletters by clicking here to keep up with all the latest news from across Nottinghamshire.
READ NEXT:
