Her Sister-In-Law’s “Parenting Style” Bans The Acknowledgement Of Her Niece’s Birthday, But She Decided To Take Her Niece Out To Dinner To Give Her A Little Birthday Gift Anyway, And Her Sister-In-Law Is Furious
This 24-year-old woman has an older brother and sister-in-law who are 30 and 31-years-old, respectively. And about six years ago, they welcomed her little niece into the world.
Since having their first child, though, she detailed how her brother and sister-in-law have adopted a pretty unconventional parenting style. In fact, they apparently don’t believe in celebrating birthdays or receiving any birthday gifts.
She claimed this was all his sister-in-law’s idea since she believes that celebrating or even simply acknowledging your child’s birthday will make them spoiled and think the day revolves around them.
“Weird. But hey, her kid, her rules, I guess,” she said.
Most of her family has found her sister-in-law’s beliefs really controversial, though, since they are really big on celebrating birthdays and holidays. They also love exchanging gifts.
But, since learning about her brother and sister-in-law’s “parenting style,” her family has been respectful of their wishes. So, they never acknowledge or celebrate her brother’s, sister-in-law’s, or niece’s birthday.
She is actually quite close with her niece, though, and has even earned the title of “favorite aunt.” At first, the entire birthday thing was not a huge deal, either, because her niece was still too young to realize there wasn’t a celebration.
But now, her niece is six years old and understands the concept of celebrating a birthday. So, her niece has become confused about why she just “doesn’t have one.”
Her sister-in-law has gone to great lengths to ensure the “parenting style” is not interfered with, though. In fact, her sister-in-law even went to her niece’s school to talk to her teacher.
o1559kip – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual child
“My sister-in-law explained her style of parenting, and the teacher now doesn’t acknowledge my niece’s birthday because my sister-in-law will have a fit and complain to the school board,” she recalled.
Just last week, though, it was her own fiancé’s birthday. So, on Sunday, his family and her family got together at her house to have an intimate birthday dinner.
Then, when it was time to sing happy birthday and blow out the candles on her fiancé’s cake, her niece wound up asking her fiancé to try.
Her fiancé didn’t mind at all and said of course– as long as it was okay with her brother and sister-in-law. At the time, her sister-in-law did apparently look hesitant but wound up saying yes.
Her niece was then ecstatic and helped her fiancé blow out the birthday candles. Her niece even made a wish with him, too.
And after her fiancé jokingly asked what her niece had wished for, her niece just said, “Cake on my birthday.”
Well, it turned out that her niece’s birthday just so happened to be last Thursday. So, she and her fiancé decided to ask her brother and sister-in-law if they could take her niece out to dinner.
Her sister-in-law did end up saying yes, and they went out to eat at a restaurant as planned. Then, at the end of the dinner, she and her fiancé asked the server to bring out a special cupcake with a candle in it for her niece. That way, her niece would be able to blow it out.
“No one sang happy birthday or anything like that, even though I think it’s ridiculous,” she explained.
But, after her niece blew out the cupcake candle, she did give her niece a small gift bag. She just told her niece it was a little treat– not a birthday present or anything. And inside, there was a heart-shaped necklace.
After unwrapping the gift, her niece absolutely loved it, too. The little girl really enjoyed the cupcake as well.
Unfortunately, though, her brother and sister-in-law wound up finding out what happened through her niece. So, they are really furious at her and her fiancé.
She and her fiancé got accused of disrespecting their parenting style. Plus, her brother and sister-in-law claimed her niece is not allowed to be around her or her fiancé alone anymore.
At that point, she tried to tell her sister-in-law that her niece would end up suffering from the weird birthday and gift ban. She also pointed out how she and her fiancé never actually acknowledged her niece’s birthday at the dinner.
Regardless, her brother and sister-in-law are still really angry at her. And while the rest of her family thinks that her sister-in-law is just weird, they still believe she and her fiancé shouldn’t have done that.
So now, she has been left wondering whether getting her niece a cupcake and a tiny birthday gift was really the wrong thing to do or not.
Is not acknowledging any birthdays really a “parenting style?” Do you think she’s right that her sister-in-law will end up hurting her niece in the long run? Should she feel guilty about trying to make her niece feel special? If you had been in her shoes, would you have done the same thing?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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