A man has been criticized in the comments of a viral Reddit post after his wife shared about how he returned his daughter's birthday gift in order to use the money for "something useful."
The woman, who goes only as u/mammabearxx3 on Reddit, posted about the situation in the popular "Am I The A**hole" subreddit. Within seven hours, the post has received more than 13,300 votes and 2,450 comments.
In the post, u/mammabearxx3 explained that her daughter, 11, received a bike as a birthday gift from an uncle (the woman's brother). She mentioned that the daughter was "over the moon" and excited because the bike had been on her wishlist for such a long time.
The woman said that a few days ago, her husband contacted her brother inquired about the receipt for the bike. Then the husband returned the bike to the store.
u/mammabearxx3 said he "kept the money for himself" and returned the bike while their daughter was at school.
"My daughter and I got home and she started crying after noticing the bike was gone," the Reddit post read. "My husband was home at the time, he told me he returned the bike and got money in return to spend on something useful for us since the bike was just there as a 'distraction' and there was no need for it now since we're the dead of winter."
u/Mammabearxx3 explained that she was aggravated with her husband for returning their daughter's bike.
"He had no right to touch it ESPECIALLY knowing our daughter's been wanting it for a long time and my brother was decent enough to buy it for her despite barely having money to get him by," u/Mammabearxx3's post read.
u/mammabearxx3 told her husband that what he did was theft and insisted that he hand over the money so she could repurchase the bike for their daughter. But her husband said he already spent all the money on "stuff for the house."
According to her post, u/mammabearxx3 said she knew where her husband stashed his money and decided to take some to buy the bike back while he was out the next day. But when he found out, the husband "verbally lashed out" at her and said she never should have taken money he was "saving for himself."
u/mammabearxx3 explained that even though there wasn't much money in his stash, she felt that she had to repurchase the bike that he took from their daughter. She said that her husband did not keep the money for himself and spent it "for necessities" for their home.
He also admitted that he was at fault for taking the bike and should have taken responsibility for getting it back. She said afterward he yelled at her for "almost 10 minutes" and went outside to smoke a cigarette.
"My daughter asked why her dad was upset and that she no longer wants the bike if dad doesn't want her to have it," the post read. "But I assured her that's not the case and told her she shouldn't feel guilty and to just focus on enjoying her bike."
As a rule of thumb, experts advise parents to be cautious when involving their children in money problems. For one, it is recommended to avoid sharing worst-case scenarios with young children as well as sharing too many details about the financial situation.
For many young children, these conversations can cause stress and result in them fearing for the worst.
At the end of the Reddit post, u/mammabearxx3 said her husband has not stopped expressing how "disrespected" and "undermined" he felt. He continued to call her a "thief" and a "juvenile" for touching his money and "being sneaky about it."
She also wrote that her husband prompted their daughter to "hate him" after being made to "look like the bad guy."
Readers were quick to criticize the Redditor's husband and his behavior.
"Your husband stole your daughter's gift and you made it right," one user commented. "And he's hiding money you aren't allowed to touch? He sounds incredibly awful and controlling."
Some users questioned how much the husband spends on cigarettes and some even wondered if he considered those a "necessity." Other users joked about how u/mammabearxx3 should leave her husband immediately.
"Keep the bike, then fund your necessities with his smokes," one commenter suggested. "Or just throw the whole man out, if you want a quick fix to being married to an addict."
"If you smoke a pack a day multiply that by 365 days in a year you get $3,650," another user calculated. "Plenty of money to spend on things. I honestly have no sympathy for people who complain that [they're] broke when [they're] standing there smoking [their] money away."
"Keep the bike[,] get rid of the hubby," another comment read.
Newsweek has reached out to u/mammabearxx3 for additional information.
