16-year-old stepson waters his stepdad's plants with bleach as a "prank," stepdad gets even by cancelling his upcoming trip: '[Sean] knew what he was doing!'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 27, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

This stepson most certainly had it coming!

Sean had gotten into the habit of pulling pranks on his stepfather because he knew he could get away with it. After all, his stepdad did not want to come across as the bad guy and wanted to be welcomed into the family by his partner's kid. So he put up with the pranks at first when they were more minor.

A recent one, however, involved Sean filming his stepdad sleeping and then spraying cold water all over his face. The video was sent around, and the stepdad was understandably not happy about it. In fact, he made Sean delete the video, which is what compelled the teenager to enact an even worse prank.

The stepfather loved indoor plants and had a whole system for watering them. When Sean asked if he could help out one day, the stepdad was taken aback but delighted that someone in the family was taking an interest in his hobby. Little did he know at the time, however, Sean had a scheme in mind…

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  • A young person waters plants on a table.
    via Unsplash+ (Annie Spratt)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Yes, Sean ended up using bleach to water the plants. Of course, the stepdad noticed the smell eventually and immediately connected the dots. 

    That's when the stepdad decided to show Sean that enough was enough. You can't just damage someone else's property and expect everything to be better the minute you own up to your wrongdoing. 

    So, the stepdad canceled the family's upcoming weekend trip, which Sean was especially excited about. That's when the stepdad and his partner started to argue over their parenting approaches. Here's the full story below!

  • "[Am I wrong] for canceling the family trip because my stepson damaged my plants?"

    I grow indoor plants and keep them around the house whether by the kitchen window or out on the front porch. I have a variety of plants like Lily,
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  • aloe vera, also flowers and they all require care and attention. It's a hobby of mine and because I don't own enough space I just stick to indoor planting.
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  • I have a 16 year old stepson Sean who loves to pull all kinds of pranks and has been trying some weird-prankes on me
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  • lately. I don't mind it as long as he's happy and also because nothing is too serious just hiding my farming tools/replacing them with damaged ones
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  • and so on. He just keeps messing around like any other kid. days ago he posted a FB video of him spraying cold water on me when I was sleeping.
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  • It was embarrassing since he shared it with family. I got mad at him and had him delete it despite him begging me to let him keep it. He kept sulking
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  • afterwards and had his mom try to convince me to let him repost the video but I thought that was crazy request. Sean suddenly became friendly
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  • and asked if he could water my plants, I was glad he asked and gave him the watering can and told him to start with the plants in the kitchen. He
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  • was gone for few minutes then he got back and started watering all the plants in the house.
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  • A man in a white and blue crew neck T-shirt makes an angry face while holding his hands in his hair.
    via Ryan Snaadt

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Later in the evening I was cleaning my tools and there was a weird smell coming from the watering can. It smelled like bleach. I freaked out and checked my plants and
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  • the same smell was coming from them. I confronted Sean and asked what he watered the plants with. He acted dumb and said nothing
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  • but I found a bottle of bleach in his room which made me lose my temper. He admitted watering my plants with bleach to get back at me for making him remove the video. I
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  • was mortified I immediately canceled the weekend trip to the national park that he was looking forward to. he started crying saying it. was too much and he
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  • made a mistake in moment of clouded judgement. I refused to discuss it, My wife feels bad Sean hasn't been eating well since I canceled the trip but he damaged my plants and caused me hurt and pain.
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  • She thinks an apology was enough, he is a kid and made a mistake. She wanted me to let it go but I said canceling the trip is his official punishment,
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  • Period I got called unreasonable and stubborn for this and that I don't respect her as a parent too and said taking away the only thing he cares about the most and look forward the most reeks of ab%$&se.
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  • Sean has this mentally that if he admits doing something wrong then he'll be forgiven. This isn't how it should be but his mother thinks admitting to it and apologizing should be the end of it.
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  • Shivaelan. NTA, that's not a prank - that's pretty hateful property damage, but besides that, he knew what he was doing. At 6, I would have known that was wrong - let alone 16! His actions absolutely should have consequences.
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Tags

family drama aita plants teenagers family feud prank family stepdad stepson entitled people vacation
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