A mother is questioning whether she should go ahead with a long-awaited trip after her 10-year-old daughter came down with an illness.
In a post on Reddit’s AITA forum, the original poster (OP) explained that she bought concert tickets more than six months ago for a show taking place over five hours away from her home. She’s been excited for the event and planned to drive down after work, dropping her daughter off at her dad’s place on the way.
All week, though, her daughter has been home sick. OP said the 10-year-old has had a dry cough, a mild fever and a reduced appetite. Because OP works from home, she’s been able to care for her daughter during the week and says the child is slowly improving, though she’s still under the weather.
OP updated her daughter’s father about the situation so he could be prepared. Instead of simply acknowledging it, he accused her of being “selfish” and insisted she cancel her trip so he wouldn’t risk catching whatever their daughter has.
She went on to explain that she and her ex share custody. During the school year, their daughter lives with OP on weekdays so she can manage schoolwork and activities. On Fridays, her ex picks their daughter up from school and keeps her for the weekend, and OP picks her up again on Sunday before noon so the girl can attend more activities.
According to OP, their daughter actually started showing symptoms the previous weekend while she was staying at her dad’s house, so she believes he’s already been exposed to the illness. Even so, he’s now demanding that their daughter remain with OP until she’s fully recovered. When OP told him she still planned to drop their daughter off after work as usual, he responded by calling her a “selfish b—-.” That outburst has left OP wondering if she’s in the wrong for keeping her concert plans.
In the comments, many Redditors felt her ex was trying to dodge his responsibility.
One commenter pointed out that the child first became sick on his watch and he still sent her back to OP without worrying about OP getting sick. They argued that now he’s just using the illness as an excuse to avoid caring for their daughter over the weekend and concluded that OP is not the one at fault.
Another person stressed that OP is allowed to have a life outside of parenting and that this weekend is clearly her ex’s scheduled time.
They wrote that OP is entitled to keep her plans, and that her ex, as a parent, needs to “step up” and look after his sick child during his custody time. They even suggested that if he keeps refusing to take his daughter or continues insulting OP, she could consider going back to court to revisit the custody arrangement based on his unwillingness to parent.
A third commenter noted that catching whatever bug your kids bring home is simply part of being a parent, and OP’s ex doesn’t get to opt out of that reality.
They added that OP has already handled the worst of the illness during the week, caring for her daughter through the roughest patch. In their view, OP is well within her rights to attend the concert she has been planning for months.Thinking
