'I grabbed the spray bottle I use to keep the cat off the counter': Woman sprays water at nightmare nephew as punishment

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 15, 2022 12:00 PM EDT

There is a wide variety of ways to discipline a child. Spraying your nephew with a bottle of water may not be ideal, but at the end of the day, it's harmless, right?

 

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole subreddit by u/RealFun5865, who opened up about her nightmare nephew. This kid would not stop trying to eat the special sugar-free cookies his aunt got for her diabetic husband. Not only that, but he actually hated the cookie when he tried one, so it's not like she was depriving him of something he genuinely enjoyed. And look, of course, spraying a kid with a bottle of water as a form of punishment hopefully doesn't become a regular thing, but if it's effective and if it means you don't have to yell, I'd say go for it. But also…I am no parent and therefore completely not knowledgeable enough to offer suggestions. Good luck to this lady! Keep scrolling below for the full story.

 

For more parenting fails, take a look at these trending memes.

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  • 01
    Font - AITA for using a spray bottle to train my nephew My nephew is a rainbow baby. My sister had a lot of trouble conceiving and he was kind of a miracle. She was 42 when she finally managed to give birth. She was on bed rest for the last three months of her pregnancy. My nephew is now six and, while I love him, he is a monster. He throws tantrums when things don't go his way. He screams if he loses playing a game. He refuses to understand why he can't ride my seven year old St Bernard.
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 02
    Font - And he thinks any food is his. My husband is diabetic and he loves cookies. I found a bakery that makes amazing sugar free cookies but they are expensive. I budget for them because my husband deserves his treats when he gets home from work. My sister was visiting and my nephew was running around like a squirrel. He tripped and started crying so my sister picked him up. He saw the cookie container on the counter and started asking for some. I said no that they were special cookies for his
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 03
    Font - A little while later he came back and asked for another cookie. I said no. My sister said to just give him one. I told her no, he wasted the last one. He started screaming that he wanted a cookie. I stood my ground. He eventually went away. Next time he came he didn't ask. He just went for the container. I grabbed the spray bottle I use to keep the cat off the counter. I gave him a couple of squirts and said "NO". He got startled and ran away. My sister said her son isn't an animal to be
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 04
    Smile - My sister called my parents to tell on me for treating her kid like that. They are mad at me for not giving in to the poor baby.
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 05
    Font - gastropodia42 - 9 hr. ago 16 & 10 More Colo-rectal Surgeon [31] ΝΤΑ Does the spray bottle work on your sister 4 21.1k Reply Sha
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  • 06
    Font - 8 hr. ago I 100% have done this to my own kids. It's not our go to but if they're being holes and I need to snap them out of it, I'll grab the squirt bottle. If I've lost my patience I feel it's better than yelling. It usually diffuses the situation and makes us all laugh. 2.2k Reply
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  • 07
    Font - BestestBruja 6 hr. ago I mean, it's essentially the same as how you sometimes have to give a short but hard blow of air at their face to get them to stop holding their breath/crying/s creaming. As long as the spray bottle is not a go-to discipline method, I thinks it's really nbd. ΝΤΑ 907 Reply
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  • 08
    Font - lordmwahaha. 5 hr. ago. edited 4 hr. ago This. It's painless stimuli used to distract them from the big emotions causing the tantrum. Kinda like how you come back from a panic attack by focusing on everything you can sense around you - your brain can't process that sensory information and sustain the emotion, so it drops one.
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  • 09
    Font - As long as you're not using it all the time, or using it on purpose to draw a parallel between them and an animal in a derogatory way, I think it's fine! ETA: As the person who responded to me just corrected, it's actually anxiety attacks you use that technique for. Not panic attacks. Just adding this, in case their response gets lost. 771 Reply S
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  • 10
    Font - SeePerspectives. 4 hr. ago Certified Proctol... Just an aside; As someone who experiences both, I just wanted to point out that anxiety attacks and panic attacks are not synonymous, and that sensory grounding works for anxiety attacks, but is far less effective for full blown panic attacks which usually require some kind of short sharp sensory shock to break (which is why they used to recommend a slap)
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 11
    Font - It's pretty easy to tell the difference between the two, as anxiety attacks tend to display as withdrawn, breathing difficulties, pain (chest or stomach most commonly) and fear, while someone having a panic attack is usually curled in the foetal position and screaming/hyster ical ;) 157 Reply S
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  • 12
    Font - ofழ (pm) Minute-Judge-5821 4 hr. ago It's also always been a solution to a fight. Between cats/dogs I've heard a common phrase along the lines of "throw a bucket of water over them". While we haven't used it, I also know a co- worker who uses a spray bottle of water to keep cats down from counters and humans pretty much react the same. If Sister wants to ruin things and her child, let her do it in her own house, not in OPs 74 Reply Share
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  • 13
    Font - phalseprofits 4 hr. ago Especially if it's for a young kid and it's just in the house. I'd have a different opinion of a parent that uses a spray bottle to train their teenager in public.
    via u/RealFun5865
  • 14
    Font - Polarpunk99 4 hr. ago Not a parent so not sure myself, but why can't it be a go to discipline method? It's not painful and it's a quick negative stimuli. Is it considered undignified? I've never heard of using this on children, but now I'm curious on why it's not
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  • 15
    Font - Bi-Bi-Bi24 2 hr. ago shole Enthusiast [9] I work in a daycare and while I don't blow on the kids (we still worry about germs), I basically do the same thing when they are getting so worked up that they need an outlet. Put them on my lap and shake my knee, rub their leg, play with their hair, etc. I do feel like I still need some things to turn to for one child who literally scares me half to death when she get really upset, she turns red then stops breathing. I have tried everything so fa
    via u/RealFun5865

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