'My son isn’t calling him father': 27-year-old couple call out wife's stepdad for wanting their newborn to refer to him as "father"

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 28, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

The funny thing about stepparents is that if you don't get along at first, it can be nearly impossible to repair those wounds. This, of course, applies to both parties, as you'll see in this tale of family drama. When stepparents enter your life, there is usually an establishing of boundaries and an agreement that while this new figure should be properly welcomed into the family, they will never be a replacement parental figure unless agreed upon by all individuals within the family unit. 

Here, we have a woman whose mother remarried when she was fifteen years old. She and her stepfather got along decently due to their mutual understanding that he would never replace her biological father. Matters were made worse years down the road when the woman, now 27, had her first child with her husband. Thankfully, her husband was vocal enough to shut down the stepfather's desire to be called "father" in Hebrew. Keep scrolling below for the full account of their confrontation!

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  • The funniest thing about the stepfather's wishes is the complete and utter confusion of what they represent. The man cannot be called “father;" he's not even the baby's biological grandfather. As we said earlier, the tension from those early days in the relationship between the stepfather and the author's wife completely resurfaced all these years later simply because of what they wanted their newborn to call him. We do not see this situation resolving itself easily, given how transparent that mutual resentment has become!

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    My (27M) wife's (27F) father passed away when she was 9 and her mom remarried to her stepdad when she was 15. My wife
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    and her stepdad have always butted heads because he oversteps and has tried to force himself as a father figure
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    in her life. When my wife's mom married him they both made it very clear that he was never going to be her dad and he basically had no control
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    over her and he has reluctantly accepted that over the years. Fast forward to today, my wife gave birth to our son
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    a week ago, he is the first grand baby on both sides so all the grandparents are trying to figure out what they want to be called. My wife's stepdad's name is David
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    and wants our son to all him 'Avi' which means father in Hebrew. My wife and I are uncomfortable with our son calling him this so we asked him if there was another name
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    he could go by and he made a fuss that he intentionally didn't want to be called grandpa because my wife has made a point in the past
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    that his actual grandpa is no longer with us. But now he's complaining that we aren't going to be happy with any name he wants to go by.
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    AITA for telling him my son isn't calling him father?
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    • deepspa... 10h ago NTA, for sure. Why the Hebrew word for father? Is he Jewish? Saba and Zayde are right there. How strange.
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    Donutsmell • 10h ago NTA. He shouldn't be called Avi no matter what, because he isn't the father. You are. It doesn't sound like Grandpa would be appropriate, either,
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    even if he wanted it. Your wife doesn't see him as a father. Tell him that unless he stops being obstinate and picks a different name you
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    all agree on, the baby is going to be calling him David.
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    Due-Com... 10h ago NTA, he wants his Step-Grandson to call him Father!? How is that not weird!? Sounds like he wants a redo and is trying to project that onto your son.
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    Tell him your baby can call him David. I called my step-dad's father, "Jim." It's perfectly fine, and tbh Jim was the only person in that family
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    I actually liked. We even lived with him and his wife for years cause my step-dad was kinda a loser hahahhaa.
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    taraiskiller 9h ago . YTA if David will be treating the baby as a grandchild. He will be the only grandfather he knows. Your wife doesn't have to call
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    him dad, but the baby will be forming a bond with him in the grandpa role and will be the only grandpa he has connection to on that side. My dad's
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    dad dad when he was young and my grandma remarried my grandpa when my dad was young. I
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    knew of the existence of my dad's biological dad and that he d, but because I never met him I had no emotional ties and my grandpa was exactly that, my
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    grandpa, he was the one going to school activities and parties and always having a glazed donut on the kitchen table for me every morning I stayed over. A child
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    is not a in a match. don't make it awkward for your child by placing them in the middle of it. If David will be an active participant,
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    let him be grandpa David or some grandpa variant. Let your child have the joys of having both sets of grandparents.
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family drama entitled parents family feud parenting entitled people karma family stepdad entitled people stepfather newborn
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