Stepmom offers to take daughter and stepdaughters on different trips, one of the girls refusses to get on a plane and demands her stepmom and sisters stop traveling without her: 'It makes her feel left out'

Author image for Giuliana Tiscioni
Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer
Aug 27, 2026 4:00 PM EDT

Teenagers can be extremely sensitive, especially when their parents get remarried…

A Reddit user shared on r/AITH an issue that has been affecting her family. She recently got married to a man with two daughters, Tara and Ava, and she also has a daughter of her own. Before getting married, she liked to travel everywhere with her daughter, and now she keeps the tradition, but includes her new family in her plans. She invites her husband and stepdaughter everywhere she goes. One of the girls, Tara, goes with them all the time, but her husband doesn't like traveling, and the other girl, Ava, is afraid of flying. The stepmom keeps inviting them everywhere they go, but the two of them always stay home. Lately, Ava started mentioning that she doesn't want them going on trips without her, because she feels left out and that her sister is closer to their stepsister than to her. She asked that they take more road trips and camping trips so she could go. The thing is, no one else in the family enjoys those kinds of trips. Ava has tried going to therapy to get over her fear of flying, but it hasn't seemed to have worked. 

The matter here is delicate. On the one hand, we understand that Ava feels left out and not close to her family, and she doesn't seem to be coming from a place of malice, just some teenage jealousy. On the other hand, it doesn't seem fair to make the entire family go through something they don't enjoy, or to renounce an activity they love just to accommodate her. 

Teenagers need to learn that they are not the center of the universe. People have the right to do things for themselves, and that doesn't mean they love us any less. It is understandable that maybe she feels unloved, but everybody else's decisions can't revolve around her. They said she "tried" therapy, and maybe that's part of the issue. Fear of flying is perfectly treatable, but you have to put in the work and acknowledge that those things take time and effort. Her stepmom would love to take her on trips with her sisters, and that can totally happen if they all agree on working alongside the correct therapist to help her get over her fear. The solution is not for them to stop traveling altoghether; it's to work as a family to find a middle ground that makes everyone happy. 

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  • I've always liked traveling though and before my husband and I got married I would go on trips to all sorts of places with my daughter.
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  • Cheezburger Image 10659182336
    via Priscilla Du Preez for Unsplash+

    The parents. 

    Not actual story subjects.

  • Since getting married I have continued doing these trips. Of course I invite my husband and his daughters, Ava and Tara. On the
    via ComplexConstant211
  • first trip after I married their father all of us were going to was going to come with us, but Ava freaked out and had a panic attack. She
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  • Em
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    Waiting room at the airport. 

    Scene shown is a visual representation.

  • had a bit of a rough time on a plane when she was young due to bad turbulence and its very clear
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  • now she is deathly afraid of flying. So anyway her father ended up taking her home while the rest of us went on that trip.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • Cheezburger Image 10659177984
    via Farah Almazouni for Unsplash+

    View from a plane.

    Image for illustrative purposes.

  • Since then the trips have always just been me, my daughter, and my other stepdaughter, Tara. However, Ava and my husband are
    via ComplexConstant211
  • always invited. Ava has been interested in going to some of these places, but always pulls back once we start talking flights and
    via ComplexConstant211
  • stays home. My husband hates traveling to begin with and he has a more demanding work schedule anyway so he stays home with her.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • It hasn't seemed like and issue before, but Ava got upset about this most recent trip we went on and not getting to go with us,
    via ComplexConstant211
  • even though she was invited. Basically what it comes down to is that she doesn't want us to go without her because it makes her
    via ComplexConstant211
  • feel left out and would rather we do more family trips like the road trips and camping trips we do. Some things I should also note:
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  • Cheezburger Image 10659182080
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Ava getting angry over the trips. 

    Model portrayal.

  • 1. We all, aside from Ava, hate road trips and camping trips. Truthfully at this point we really only go on those trips. because of her.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • 2. Ava has tried therapy. 3. There is no money issue with me and the other girls going on these other trips.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • 4. We would not be able to go by car to the places I've taken the other girls.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • 5. Ava thinks these trips are also why Tara is closer now with my daughter than her.
    via ComplexConstant211
  • 6. We do one road trip and one camping trip a year. 7. The girls and I go on our trips usually twice a year.
    via ComplexConstant211

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stepmother marriage sisters stepmom stepdaughters husband traveling stepsister daughter airplane
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