Ouch…this doesn’t sound good, does it?
And I’m gonna give you all a little bit of free advice today: you should never, ever say that a hobby or activity that your kid is involved in is a waste of money.
And this dad is having second thoughts about saying this about his daughter’s ballet lessons.
But did he go too far?
Read on to see what happened.
AITA for calling my daughter’s ballet lessons a waste of money in an argument?
“I (m31) live with my wife (f30). We have two kids, (f6) and (f2).
We’ve recently had a bit of financial difficulty as our rent got increased and my job has been cutting my hours. We aren’t struggling to survive but we need to count our coins before buying any luxuries.
I managed to get a second job to make up for the cut hours but we still need to be very mindful about where our money goes and I’ve had a few discussions with my wife about it.
My wife is a SAHM. Our eldest goes to school from 8am to 4pm. My job covers childcare for our youngest and she goes to daycare from 8am to 2pm, 3 days a week. I take the kids to school and daycare and my wife picks them up.
I noticed some transactions from our shared bank account that were unusual and I asked my wife about it. She explained that she’s been taking our youngest to ballet lessons in the afternoons after daycare once a week, and each lesson is £30.
I got annoyed because my wife didn’t discuss this with me and £30 a week is quite a bit of money. I asked her to stop taking her to the lessons because we can’t afford them but suggested she look for cheaper activities, preferably something both of our children could enjoy.
My wife protested and said that our youngest really enjoys the ballet, she called me an a**hole and said that I’m depriving my daughter of something that could help her future, and that we can find a way to afford them.
I called the lessons a waste of money and told my wife that we are partners and she shouldn’t spend large amounts without discussing it, especially when we don’t have a lot as it is.
My wife started crying and said that something that makes our child happy isn’t a waste of money. She went into our room and slammed the door and that was the end of that conversation.
Since then, my wife hasn’t really been speaking to me and I wonder if I was the AH here.”
Take a look at what Reddit users said about this.
One reader said he’s NTA and that his wife should get a job to pay for the ballet lessons.
Another Reddit user said it sounds like this guy is picking up all the slack and they questioned what his wife is up to…
And this individual said it’s simple: this guy’s wife needs to get a job.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments.
Thanks a lot!