A man felt the need to vent out on Reddit after his wife slammed him for putting a lock on their daughter’s door. He wondered whether he was wrong for doing so or if his reasons were valid.Things started getting complicated when the man’s brother-in-law moved in after his divorce. He and his daughters, Olivia and Sloane, 18, needed a place to live after they lost their house.Growing up, Olivia and Sloane weren’t close to the man’s 16-year-old daughter, Zoey. However, they got along fine and weren’t enemies.
Upon them moving into the home, the man noticed that Olivia and Sloane had no regard for Zoey’s privacy. They’d walk into her room at any given moment and take things.
The Twins Disregarded Zoey’s Privacy
Regardless of whether it was makeup, clothes, phone accessories, or her laptop, they made clear that they weren’t shy to borrow. Initially, the man’s wife and brother-in-law saw nothing wrong with this. After all, it was customary for girls to borrow things from one another.
However, the man disagreed. He felt it was disrespectful for her daughter’s cousins to take her things without permission.
The final straw for him was when his daughter saved up to get a 60-dollar-worth makeup kit from a known brand. Her cousin Sloane took an interest in the makeup and used it without permission. To make matters worse, she dabbed the makeup in such a way that the palette shades mixed together.When Zoey found the kit on her bed, she began to cry. She saved up for it, and now, because her cousin decided to use it without permission, it was no longer in the condition she left it.
The man told his wife about the incident and how upset Zoey was over it. His wife said she’d ask her niece to apologize, but the man didn’t think this was enough.
The Mom Thought Nothing Wrong of the Situation
Zoey didn’t think it was enough, either. She began moving her valuable items out of the house, traumatized by her cousins.
To ensure his daughter didn’t need to move things out of the house, the man got her a lock. She installed it on her door, and when everyone at home saw it, they were upset.
Sammy confronted the man about it, and he told him the truth. Sammy was livid:
“My daughters aren’t thieves! It’s normal that girls of the same age borrow each other’s stuff.”He accused his sister of enabling Zoey to buy $ 60 worth of makeup to look older. He called it a “defect” that the mom should be fixing.
Likewise, he called his brother-in-law an enabler because he was overprotective of Zoey. The man didn’t think so.
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byu/OnlyInQuebec9 from discussion
inAmItheAsshole
He was only setting boundaries for his daughter, who was begging for her privacy. His daughter appreciated the gesture, but his wife did not.
His wife slammed him for putting a lock on the door. She says the lock made it impossible for Zoey to spend time with her cousins and that the man was supposed to treat them like their own daughters.
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byu/OnlyInQuebec9 from discussion
inAmItheAsshole
When his wife demanded him to remove the lock, he refused. “I said this lock does not get removed til her brother and his daughters are out of our house.”
His wife felt angry that he was implying to kick them out. She warned him that her family would hate him if they discovered what he did.The man shrugged and reminded her about their family’s harsh reality: he allowed Sammy and his children to move in when their own family refused.
He told his wife that if she were to start shaming him, she’d have to shame her parents for refusing to let their son and granddaughters in.After everything that happened, only the man and Zoey remained on good terms. Everyone else started giving them the silent treatment, and his wife continued to be upset over the situation.
Ultimately, the whole silent treatment tactic has made Zoey think twice. Even though she didn’t do anything wrong, she now feels like she did because of how everyone treated her.People on the internet supported the dad after reading the story. They told him he was a good father for standing up for her despite everybody else’s thoughts.