Stepmom banishes 16-year-old from dinner table for singing poorly, praises her 18-year-old sister: 'She started to cry'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 10, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

Everyone knows someone who can't sing but loves to do it anyway. It's one of those ubiquitous personality traits that everyone encounters at some point in their lives. And it can be one of the most annoying traits ever. Something about hearing wrong notes in the wrong key (especially if it's a song you like) feels like nails on a chalkboard. If you love someone unconditionally, you can put up with it now and then because you know they're having fun. But there is a line. 

If you're at karaoke, anything goes-- bad singing, good signing, as long as you're giving it your all. At the dinner table, now that's a different story. Call me crazy, but I don't want to hear any singing at the dinner table unless it's from a tuneful quartet in the corner of a nice restaurant. But not from my family. That's the situation one step-parent found themselves in, and things quickly got messy. 

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  • 01
    Queen of the Tap Pack
    via Gabriel Tovar
  • 02
    AITA for being to my stepdaughter and banning her from eating with the family
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    I have 2 stepdaughters, Scarlett (18), and Ava (16). Scarlett is an amazing singer. She's been in some kind of voice lessons since she was 10 and just graduated from one of the best performing arts schools in the state, where she went on a full scholarship since 6th grade. She has a YouTube channel where
    via u/aitaloudsinging
  • 04
    she sings that she's starting to make money from and was accepted into some very prestigious music schools. Additionally, she has been working paid gigs for the last 2 years and makes at least $500- 1000 per week, more in the summers. She's even been the opening artist at a few concerts. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying she's an objectively good singer.
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    Ava, on the other hand, is not a good singer. She likes to believe she is and she might become one if she actually stuck with voice lessons or choir classes but she always quits after 1-2 weeks. because they're "bullying her" (giving constructive feedback, I've seen the notes her classmates and teachers have given her).
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    Ava also likes to sing very loudly and/or at bad times. For example, if she feels that we're too quiet at the dinner table she starts to loudly sing. It doesn't sound good and I honestly don't know how she doesn't hear it. If you ask her to stop she keeps going and if you're blunt and say stop, that doesn't sound good/we don't want to hear it she keeps going and gets even louder just to annoy you.
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    If we're in the car and we don't let her choose the songs she'll loudly sing whatever she wants, not what's playing, to annoy us and responds the same way to us telling her to stop. The only person she listens to is her dad.
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    A few weeks ago we were trying to eat and she was singing again. I told her to stop and she refused so I took her plate and told her from now on she is no longer allowed to eat at my table. She can eat in her room, the backyard, her car, the garage, wherever she wants as long as we can't hear her from the dining room and that this will continue until she can behave appropriately at the table.
    via u/aitaloudsinging
  • 09
    My husband and I argued about it but he's not home for dinner so there isn't much he can do about it. Today she was eating lunch with us and started singing again. I told her to stop and she didn't listen so I again took her plate and told her to eat somewhere where we can't hear
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    her if she doesn't want to act appropriately. Ava argued that she's a better singer than Scarlett and that Scarlett sings all the time. I was done with her so I asked her how many times someone other than her dad has actually asked her to sing, not even paying her to be there, just ask her to sing or how many performing arts schools she's gotten accepted to (she's applied to many).
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    She started to cry and my husband wants me to apologize for being to her and is insisting I allow her to eat with the family again. AITA?
    via u/aitaloudsinging
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    Specialist-Owl26... . 16h ago Okay for almost the entirety of this story I was ready to say NTA until the very end. So her sister gets to sing at the dinner table? Just not her? I mean I think its weird to sing at the dinner table anyways but if you have a double standard going on here then YTA. Ava is
    via u/Specialist-Owl26
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    YOUNGER then her sister, sometimes it takes some time to get better at something and acting to her and discouraging her because you clearly don't like her makes you an AH. Either ban singing at the dinner table completely or keep your mouth shut and invoke the thumper rule, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all."
    via u/Specialist-Owl26
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    Bn0503 16h ago • ESH - Ava just because she sounds annoying af and you because you're a parent and she's a child and you've (seemingly repeatedly) told her she's not good at something she's passionate about and not in a nice way. Encourage her to follow other pursuits, and definitley
    via u/Bn0503
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    continue to enforce that it's inappropriate to loudly sing when people want a quiet meal but brutally laying out that she's rubbish at the one thing she's passionate about and rubbing in her failure to succeed is pretty harsh when it's coming from a parental figure. Especially when it's followed up with 'and now go eat alone'.
    via u/Bn0503
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    SoMuchMoreEagle 16h ago . ESH It sounds like she is very envious of her sister and it's causing her to act out. She's being immature and annoying.
    via u/SoMuchMoreEagle
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    But it sounds like you all are very quick to remind her that she at singing. It shouldn't be about how good she is or isn't. It should be about being disruptive and loud at the table, in the car, etc. There are times when singing is appropriate and other times when it isn't. If Scarlett were singing loudly at the dinner table, would she be asked to stop? If not, then you guys are extra
    via u/SoMuchMoreEagle
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    CrazyCranberry... • 15h ago Something tells me she's doing this to try and get attention. How obvious is it that you're so proud of her sister? How much praise and attention does she get? And how often is that done in front of Ava. This sounds incredibly obnoxious but something tells me there's a reason she's doing it.
    via u/CrazyCranberry
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    Melodic_Salama... 15h ago It's clear just from your post that you ring Scarlett's praises and cannot stand Ava. If it's that obvious in this post, I'm gonna guess your favoritism is seeping into ava's reality as well. YTA and a bully. I'd be questioning my marriage if my partner treated my child like this.
    via u/Melodic_Salama
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    Got2ThinkAboutlt 16h ago • ΥΤΑ When talking about Scarlett, you were bragging like someone about to burst their buttons. When you talk about Ava, you have nothing good to say. I'm sure Aval has felt this discrepancy for quite awhile.
    via u/Got2ThinkAboutlt
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    Ava might be trying to ruin music for you as a way to get even for your attitude. It sounds like she wants to hurt you to the same degree that you hurt her. While this is wrong, it is understandable.
    via u/Got2ThinkAboutlt

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family drama aita entitled parents teenager singing teenagers blended family raising daughters stepmom singers family feud parenting family step family Reddit raising kids Parenting Fail parents
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