31-year-old man tells 3-year-old son about his late bio grandmother, his father tries to force him into keeping quiet about the past to spare his second wife's feelings: ‘He's going crazy’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Jul 5, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

Even though we may lose our loved ones as time goes by, it's important to keep their memory alive through the stories we tell about them and the photos we keep of them. It might be hard on newer family members to hear this, whether that be because they've technically assumed the role of the late loved one after their passing or because it's simply too painful to remember the person they've lost. Either way, it's up to you about how and why you keep your loved one's memory alive, especially when it comes to teaching your children about the people they'll never get to meet.

This seems pretty logical, right? Well, a man's father in this next story refuses to acknowledge the fact that the man might still consider his late mother his mother. The father apparently thinks that because his son grew up with a stepmother, it means he shouldn't feel any sort of connection with his biological mother. This isn't how grief or family works. Given the man's feelings, he teaches his 3-year-old about his late biological grandma, and his father loses it on him. Scroll below to read the full story.

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  • Cheezburger Image 10525136128
    via Tahir osman For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "AITA for kicking my dad out of my house after picked a fight with me over my stepmom?"

    My dad and I (31M) always had a somewhat difficult relationship. I'm the youngest and the only son. My two older sisters are Mel (35F) and Kat (37F). Our mom
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  • dod when I was 1 and our dad remarried when I was 4. My stepmom and I have a better relationship than my dad and I do actually. But it's my relationship with her that has mine and dad's so bad.
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  • Mel and Kat don't have a particularly close or fond relationship with our stepmom. To them she's just not mom and
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  • could never be someone important to them. For me she's not my mom either, even though I don't remember my mom, but she's still got a place in my life.
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  • That's something that bothers dad. He always wanted me to call my stepmom mom, he wanted me to let her adopt me and he'd punish my sister's for talking
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  • about mom too much around me. He'd get mad at me for asking them about mom or going into their room to see photos of mom.
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  • He told me it was disrespectful to my stepmom. Then he'd say she was the only mom I actually knew and I should treat her as such.
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  • My stepmom, for the most part, never pushed. A few times she did ask if I'd ever call her mom and she was visibly disappointed when I said no but she'd let it drop.
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  • Dad's and my relationship kinda leveled out when I went to college. He made a few comments on my wedding day that he expected my feelings to change when I had kids of my own.
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  • Now I'm a dad of two who's expecting a third. We had family and friends over on Saturday and my dad ended up in an awful mood because my 3 year old
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  • pointed at a photo of my mom and called her grandma while he was holding her. Dad's whole attitude visibly changed and after an hour he blew up and started
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  • yelling at me and asking what the h I that was wrong with me. He said I was supposed to grow up once I became a dad and accept who my real parents are and stop
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  • acting like bl d's what matters. He kept asking me why my oldest said grandma to the photo and why I had a photo of my mom so clearly out for everyone to see.
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  • Cheezburger Image 10525136384
    via Nasim Keshmiri for Unsplash

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • He asked me why I still called her my mom when my mom was sitting on the couch next to my wife. My stepmom tried calming
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  • him down but I insisted that he leave. He tried to refuse and he demanded I answer why my stepmom is still stepmom and why I let my sisters poison me.
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  • He told me I didn't deserve my stepmom and started cursing all over the place. So I made him leave. It enraged him further but I didn't even care.
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  • He's going crazy since then trying to talk to me but it's not because he's sorry. He's still furious and he told me a real man
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  • would have confronted his questions and not kicked him out. I refused to respond since he was being so aggressive. But AITA?
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  • pavifec Absolutely NTA. You are not the a hole for having boundaries or for honoring your late mother. Your father, however, is way out of line.
    via pavifec
  • The1chus NTA. Your dad's been trying to rewrite your history since you were a toddler and now he's p ed he failed. That tantrum over a toddler saying "grandma" is all the proof you need that this was never about love or respect it was about control. He couldn't
    via The1chus
  • stand that you didn't erase your actual mom to make his life easier, and now he's spiraling because your kid dared to acknowledge her existence. Kicking him out was the most respectful thing you could've done for your home, your kids, and your sanity.
    via The1chus

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family dynamics family drama entitled parents entitlement reddit story family feud parenting entitled family reddit thread parent Reddit Parenting Fail parents entitled people Parenting FAILS
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