Navigating family life can always be a tad tricky every now and then and this was exactly the case for one dad who has come under fire after calling his son an 'a**hole' for referring to his 'half' siblings as such.
And one man, 30, has taken to Reddit to share his gripes with his brother's parenting style.
His brother, who is 10 years his senior, has four kids with his oldest being 15-year-old Sam.
Advert
Providing some context to the situation, he explained: "Sam's from my brother's first marriage.
"When Sam was six, his mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she died a year later. My brother met his second wife when Sam was eight and married her when Sam was nine.
"They have three children together now ages five, three and 18 months."
Sam has 'always called' his younger siblings his half siblings, but this has also 'always bothered' his dad and step mum.
Advert
"They have corrected him repeatedly," the man continued, "taken him to therapy, individual and family, and have continued therapy for almost six years."
While 'doing all this', the parents still continue to 'correct' Sam every time and has even told his friends that he is wrong and he has siblings - not half siblings.
As Sam's uncle, the man was 'told I should correct him too'.
"But I have not," he revealed. "It has been a discussion and I have said it does not feel right to gang up on him and try to harass him into submission on this topic.
Advert
"They tell me Sam clearly isn't willing to work with a therapist to get to a point where the half doesn't matter so there's nothing wrong with nudging him along with correcting him when he 'slips up'."
Since then, the bloke's brother has been hounding him 'for the last couple of months' about his 'lack of effort' to correct Sam.
"He has told me that my five-year-old niece has started to question why her brother (Sam) is cold and why he always says they're half siblings," the Reddit post went on.
Advert
"He said she has already asked him if Sam loves her or if she did something wrong. So why would I not try to save her the heartache and get Sam on board with loving his siblings and dropping the half."
After telling his brother that he didn't agree 'with the lengths he's going to', he was met with a huge backlash.
"I said after nearly six years if nothing has changed does he really want to break his son to get what he wants?" the man went on.
"I told him he might wish things were perfect and that Sam adapted to everything perfectly but he lives in this reality and not in that dream."
Advert
His brother subsequently 'called [him] out' for not agreeing with him.
The man wrote: "My brother ignored the rest of what I said and called me out for not agreeing with the lengths.
"He said that as a parent he has to go to whatever lengths it takes to protect his kids and to make sure they turn out to be good people.
"He said right now Sam is turning into someone he doesn't like and is turning into a real a**hole and f**k me for judging him on his parenting."
The post has since garnered a whole lot of opinions on the site, with many overwhelmingly siding with the uncle.
One Reddit user hit out: "Your brother is actively abusing Sam and not respecting his valid feelings.
"Sam lost his mother and has been put into new relationships and this is how he feels comfortable addressing them."
A second declared that you 'can’t force a relationship', adding: "Keep being on Sam’s side, he needs someone to be."
"Any competent therapist would be pushing back against the parents in this situation," claimed a third, "so once the parents hear from the therapist that they’re doing something wrong, they move on to the next one."
Another pointed out that regardless of what Sam's dad thinks, him referring to his 'half siblings' is technically accurate.
"He’s factually correct," they commented. "They are his half-siblings. Your brother can rage about that until he’s blue in the face, but it’s true."
What do you make of it?
Rhiannon Ingle