Rebellious Teen Calls Dad By His First Name, Dad Just Ignores Him

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Sep 1, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

What's the fine line between a teenager being in a rebellious phase and a teenager simply being an a$$hole? Teenage rebellion might be normal, but as Wheatus taught us, so are teenage dirtbags.

This thread was posted on Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole subreddit by u/DramaticShame6177. He recounted how all of a sudden, his son (who is at that horrific age of 15) randomly started only referring to his parents by their first names. After the Redditor tried to get his son to stop, the son wouldn't and so his Dad started to rebel in his own way. Over dinner, he refused to acknowledge his son until he called his father "Dad."

The back-and-forth in the Reddit comments shows how tough this situation is. Yes, teens can be the worst and we've all been those kids. For instance, I once had a meltdown when my parents got me the wrong kind of ice cream (in fairness, there were fruit chunks in the kind they got…if I wanted fruit, I'd eat fruit, am I right?!). Calling your parents by their first name isn't exactly the worst thing a teenager could do (that would be purchasing a drum kit and rehearsing at night). Still, though, it's a sign of disrespect and a phase like this can only really come to an end if this father's son is made aware of how much it bothers his Dad. We recommend another sit-down conversation and not one that leans into parent-child power dynamics, but one about mutual respect.

For more content about parenting woes, check out this story about a father who kicked an entitled girl out of his daughter's party.

Keep scrolling below for u/DramaticShame6177's post and for excerpts from the discussion!

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