A mum has been slammed online after she cancelled her daughter's birthday party - then made her call her friends to explain why.
In a post on Reddit, the anonymous woman explained that her daughter Abby just turned 11, and was supposed to have a birthday party with the girls in her class.
She went on to say that her daughter has autism and ADHD and struggles to make friends, so this would have been her first ever birthday party outside the immediate family.
Unfortunately, her best friend, Taylor, was unable to attend as she was away with her family that weekend.
"The day before the party, I was letting Abby use my phone to give her classmates the time and location information and I overheard this exchange," she continued.
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"Other girl: 'Is Taylor going to be there?'
"Abby: 'No, she's lame and can't come'."
The mum said she demanded Abby get off the phone and explain herself.
"She tried to tell me that she wasn't serious, but I thought it was incredibly mean to call her only friend 'lame' and felt like she was behaving horribly," she said.
She also said that Taylor would be "heartbroken" if she knew what she had said about her.
"I felt that she didn't deserve to have a party if she couldn't cherish her friend, and decided to teach her a lesson," the mum wrote.
"I made her call all 12 girls that were invited (including the ones she had already called to tell the information) and explain to them that there wasn't going to be a party after all because she was being punished for saying something rude about Taylor.
"She was appropriately embarrassed and cried a lot, and I think definitely learned her lesson."
A week later when Taylor visited, she had overheard her telling Abby how the other parents had reacted, and how they thought the punishment was "too harsh".
"It got awkward when Taylor's mum kept gushing about Abby and low-key implying that she didn't deserve to be punished and I snapped back, 'Well, I guess you and everyone else knows how to parent better than I do'," she wrote.
"I am still seething over this and want to know if my actions with Abby and with Taylor's mum were warranted because I feel like everyone else is crazy."
She concluded her post by asking Reddit users whether she was in the wrong, and many were quick to tell her she was for "humiliating" her daughter.
One person said: "You humiliated your daughter, ruined her first experience being seen by everyone, and probably ruined the trust she had left in you."
"Just PLEASE take one look outside of your own perspective. You were so cruel even parents outside of your family had to jump into defence for your own daughter," another wrote.
A third commented: "Honestly, teenagers generally say what Abby said as a joke fairly commonly. There’s literally no intent behind it. [Original poster] was a major [a**hole].
"Source: I’m a teenager."
Someone else added: "I have ADHD and Autism and my humour is very strange and most people don’t get it. I also often say the first thing that comes to my head without thinking it through. [Original poster's] daughter was probably sad her friend couldn’t come and just said the first feeling that popped in her brain."
The mum later added to her post, after she realised she had overreacted and wrote: "I was wrong and I am disgusted with myself.
"I sat with Abby after supper and apologised for my actions and enforced that she is a good kid and a great friend to Taylor.
"She started tearing up and told me she was hurt that the other girl asked about Taylor because apparently, some kids had said they wouldn't go since Taylor wasn't. Abby felt guilty because while she was just joking about Taylor being lame, she was hurt that they liked Taylor and not her. I hadn't even considered this and I'm heartbroken for her that I kicked her when she was down.
"She is a sweet and sensitive girl and I'm very lucky she forgave me."
She is going to look into some therapy as a family and has given Abby a week to decide how she wants to celebrate her belated birthday, and who she would like to invite.
She concluded by thanking Reddit users for commenting and pointing out what he did wrong.
"Thanks to everyone who advocated for my daughter when I failed her," she said.
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