A Single Dad Wonders If He Should Be So Strict About Meeting His Teen Daughter’s Boyfriends
“I just want to be able to put a face to a name," he wrote.
When teen children start the nerve-wracking and exciting world of “dating,” it’s more than normal for parents to be a little cautious. One single dad in particular was a bit hesitant when his 13-year-old daughter explained that she had been asked out on a date by a boy in her class.
Obviously a novice when it comes to navigating how to deal with a teen daughter dating, all this dad wanted was to meet the kid before they headed off for pizza. However, when that didn’t seem like a possibility, he made his daughter cancel the date. Is he in the wrong?
Posting to the infamous Am I the A—hole (AITA) forum on Reddit — where users try to figure out if they were wrong or not in a multitude of situations — the man explained why he decided what he did.
In his now-viral Reddit post, the father wrote that he's been a single parent for the last nine years. “My daughter is 13 and is the single greatest thing to ever happen to me. About a week ago she said that this boy in her class wanted to know if she would be up to grab pizza on that Saturday,” he began.
He said that he allowed her to go on the date under one condition — he had to meet the boy first.
Seems pretty reasonable when she’s only 13 years old! However, not surprisingly, the man's daughter immediately fought back on the request, seeming annoyed by her dad.
“I said that if a guy is asking my daughter out, I just want to be able to put a face to a name,” he explained.
He even promised that he would do his best not to embarrass her or be that “goofy dad [who] interrogates [a] boyfriend and acts all scary.”
He just wanted to say hello and get an idea of who was taking his daughter our for pizza. His daughter finally agreed after some back and forth and told him that she would inform her date about the meeting when he came to pick her up.
When the day of the date actually arrived, though she tells her dad that her date is outside their house, and they’re going to ride bikes to the pizza place. The dad immediately is curious as to why he hasn’t come to the door to meet him as he and his daughter had discussed.
“I ask why he's not coming to the door. She first tells me he's nervous and doesn't know what he'd say to me. I told her that, ‘Nice to meet you’ is a good start,” he continued.
He then reveals that his daughter begins to fight back (again) about her date meeting her dad, noting that she “doesn't see why” he has to meet him.
After explained to her again why it’s important for him to meet his daughter’s date, she bursts into tears, admitting that she never even told the boy about her dad’s stipulations because she thought it was “stupid.”
Sticking to his guns, the dad then explained that he made his daughter text and tell her date that she could no longer go.
“I told her to text him that the date was off. She said I wasn't allowed to do that. I asked her again to tell him. She started getting teary-eyed, texted him, told me I was mean and that she hated me, and went to her room,” he wrote.
This all seems pretty legit, right? Why is this dad even posting in the AITA thread anyway? Well, when he told his sister about the incident, she told him that he was in the wrong.
The Reddit thread — which now has 9.9k upvotes and over 2.8k comments — was flooded with support for the single dad who told him that was most definitely not the asshole.
One user commented that the dad was definitely not in the wrong, explaining that if his daughter wasn’t mature enough for a dad/date meet and greet, then she’s not mature enough to be dating at all.
“NTA if she can’t handle asking him to meet her parent she isn’t mature enough to be alone with a person you don’t know,” they wrote.
Another echoed that same sentiment, adding that the entire scenario already started off on the wrong foot with the daughter lying. “... Honesty is key to trust. Parenting is hard. Sounds like you were upfront, wanted to meet the friend, and were happy to not embarrass either of them,” they wrote.
Read the entire Reddit thread here.
