A father gets support for not inviting an 8-year-old girl to the backyard bounce house party he threw for neighborhood kids.
The father, u/Inevitable-Rain7586, shared his story on the popular subreddit r/AmITheA**hole, asking Reddit denizens if he was wrong to exclude the young woman. It got 14,800 upvotes and 2,600 comments for its post.”[Am I the A**hole] for not inviting the neighbor next door to our backyard party?”
The original poster (OP) explains that he likes to “occasionally” host parties for the neighborhood kids so that his kids can play with their friends who go to different schools. However, he told the parents of the 8-year-old girl who lives next door about the party, but they refused to invite her.
“My fucking God, she screams for everything. It’s not even a scream. It’s an ear-piercing scream. I can’t stand it. I can turn off the loud sounds of my 7 and 9-year-old boys and their friends, but no this girl’s screams.” u/Inevitable-Rain7586 wrote. “It’s like she sees a bug, she screams. She thinks someone’s chasing her, she screams. She jumps off a swing, she screams.
“I’m pretty sure it’s for attention, but I can’t spend Saturday listening to it in my backyard. Like I’m going to end up yelling at him and I don’t want to do that or I look like an angry parent,” he added.
The OP didn’t hide the reason from his parents, who countered that he wasn’t stronger than any of the other kids, but said that wasn’t true. She added that if she stops yelling all the time, she’ll be welcome, but until then she won’t bounce around any of the OP’s houses.
“They were deeply offended,” he said.
Newsweek has reached out to u/Inevitable-Rain7586 for comment.
A man is being supported for his decision not to invite the girl who lives next door to the bounce house party he threw for the neighborhood kids, because of her seemingly constant screaming.
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Even among adults, being the only person not invited to a party can be difficult. But when it’s a children’s party, it can be even more difficult, as children may not understand why they’ve been rejected.
In a 2017 advice column, a mother of a boy asked syndicated columnist Carolyn Hax what she should do when her child was invited to a friend’s birthday party, even when, a few years ago how many years, the friend’s parents stopped talking to the letter writer. Hax said that even though the other parents’ behavior was odd, it would be best to go to the party anyway for the sake of his son.
Ann Cannon of the Salt Lake Tribune had a similar “don’t rock the boat”-style response to another letter. In this case, the letter writer saw that her neighbor threw a birthday party for her son on Instagram. However, although their children play together, the letter writer’s son was not invited, and she asked if she should confront the neighbor.
Cannon said that while it was wrong for the neighbor to post the photo on social media, it was probably best to pretend she didn’t know about her neighbor’s party. But if resentment happens again, then the writer should deal with it, Cannon added.
Newsweek has published a few stories about children’s parties and guest list problems. A mother worried that she had made the mistake of bringing her husband to a children’s party where all the other children brought only one father. Another mother pulled her son out of a “stressful” party and inadvertently caused many of the other attendees who weren’t enjoying themselves to walk out either. And in another story, a mother received support for only inviting her son’s five closest friends to a party instead of his entire class.
Reddit largely sided with the OP.
“[Not the A**hole]. It’s your backyard and your party. If you don’t want to invite someone, you don’t have to,” u/DisneyFoodie20 wrote in the top-rated comment, earning 19,900 upvotes.
“Exactly! I hate it when someone thinks they deserve an invite. Entitled neighbors, co-workers, and ‘family’ mostly. Hosting anything should mean you can invite whoever you want. As the host, you’re responsible for the fun of the your guests, so I totally understand not wanting to invite someone who might annoy everyone else,” u/flutterby228 wrote.
“[Not the A**hole]. My nieces have these kinds of screams. I have never heard anything like it in this world. I have to plan when I can listen to it because constantly reminding them helps but doesn’t stop it,” u/crystallz2000 wrote.
“We also had a neighborhood boy known as The Shrieker to the other parents. Then the kids caught on as they started calling him that. He was very offended and refused to scream any more than the other kids.” u/BaitedBreaths shared.
“Once he found out about the problem, I thought he’d had fair warning. The next time I was playing video games with my son and he did that ear-piercing scream, I said, ‘That’s why everyone tells you the Crier, nobody likes him. and if you do it again, you go home. Less than a minute later he was sent home, I don’t think he even knew he was doing it.
“The other parents started doing the same thing, except we stopped giving him a treat cry. First he screamed and went out. He learned,” they continued. “Many years later and he’s a great kid with a well-modulated tone, haha. But to be honest, I’ve always felt like I’ve been a bit of an a-hole, kicking a little kid out of my house. So your post made me feel validated. Thank you!”
“Who wants a banshee? Nobody does,” added u/MischievousBish.
It was not, however, unanimous.
“Honestly, I said [Everyone Sucks Here] because… come when you have children and they have a friend, you remind them of the rules of your house. a warning ‘We don’t shout here. If I hear it again, I have to ask you to come home,'” u/Ladyughsalot1 wrote. “Parenting doesn’t mean you’re a parent to someone else’s kids. But as a child host, you definitely let them know the rules and consequences in your home.”
“Unpopular opinion and I’ll take any downvotes people can leave, though [You’re the A**hole]. You invited all the kids but her. She’ll see all the kids there and know she’s the only one not invited. I get that you don’t want to deal with an annoying kid, but it’s kind of mean. It would be different if she was a bully or mean to the other kids, but excluding her for being loud isn’t nice. And then again, he literally lives next door,” u/Negative-Swordfish-9 wrote.
