'AITA for telling my boyfriend's children to eat what's served or go without dinner?'

A woman recently turned to Reddit's popular "Am I the A**hole" forum for advice after an argument with her boyfriend over parenting. 

The original poster (OP), who has an eight-year-old son from a previous relationship, thought it would be fair to have her boyfriend's two children follow the same rules as her son. However, this led to a huge argument, with her boyfriend accusing her of being too harsh.

Couple gets into a huge argument as girlfriend refuses to hold boyfriend's children to different rules than her son

The woman began, "I 27f have been with my boyfriend30 for a little over a year now. We recently moved in together. I have a 8 year old from an ex, and my boyfriend has 2 kids ages 6 and 9. Since we moved in together I now have his children every weekend and he works fridays, so I am alone with them til he is off work."

 "Friday night I made meatloaf with roasted broccoli and mash potatoes. My son eats well, he knows to eat the best he can, and if he don’t finish his food that’s okay but he atleast has to eat the most he can unless he don’t want a before bedtime snack. I hold my boyfriend children to these same rules which we haven’t had any issues with til Friday night," she explained. 

"Neither of the kids liked the food, the 9 year old ate it, the 6 year old refused in which I said I’m not making you another meal, so he went to bed without dinner," the OP added. 

However, OP's decision didn't sit well with her boyfriend. "When my boyfriend got home his 6 year old was complaining he was hungry and my boyfriend got upset with me that I refused to make him something else. I told him I wouldn’t hold his children to different rules then my child," the woman shared.

"He got upset and ended up making him something else to eat, then told me that was horrible of me to 'deny a child dinner' and blamed it on his young age, explaining I had to be more lenient. I explained that I had raised a young child before and I was once a young child and followed those same rules, which just resulted in a huge argument, and him calling me ignorant," the woman added. 

"Today we got a call from my boyfriends ex, and now the children don’t want to come til Saturday, or Friday night late when my boyfriend is off work. This caused another big argument between my boyfriend and I. He once again called me an ignorant ahole, and said I needed to change my way of thinking. AITA?" she further shared. 

"I did not force this kid to go to bed hungry, I suggested him to eat a larger portion of his mash potatoes and smaller portion of other things which he refused, and he didn’t want to make anything else himself," the OP shared in an update. 

Redditors divided over the couple's heated argument regarding parenting

Upon reading about the argument, Redditors quickly weighed in on the situation, with some siding with the woman and others supporting the man.

One wrote, "NTA & if your boyfriend doesn’t want to back you up when you were taking care of his children then I think it’s perfect that they come later on Fridays so he can be responsible for them."

Another declared, "NTA. If he doesn't like your free babysitting, then he can hire a nanny for his children. I'm curious how many nights a week he watches and cooks for your child alone."

An individual who found the woman's actions problematic wrote, "YTA. I understand that you were likely trying your best to encourage them to eat but this approach is incredibly outdated and often contributes to feeding issues. The kid is 6 and offering a larger portion of mash potatoes or making his own food isn’t appropriate. A dinner needs protein, a suitable option would have been eggs or bacon or something similar." 

"NTA. If he wants different rules for his kids, then he needs to do 100% of the parenting of his kids. I think them coming on Saturday is a good idea," read another comment. 

"YTA. This kinda behavior breeds distrust and eating disorders," a Redditor claimed. 

One more echoed, "YTA- Sending a kid to bed hungry isn’t the solution. You expected a 6 year old to make his own dinner? Do you know how wishy-washy kids are? 'I raised a young kid' meanwhile you were barely out of high school when they were born. You’re comparing apples to oranges because you’re assuming every child is exactly the same."

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