Mum Claims Son Was Pressured Into Eating Birthday Cake

We all have our own rules when it comes to parenting our kids but one mum wants to know if she has a right to be angry at her friend’s son. You see she doesn’t allow her son to eat cake, yet he did when his best friend ‘pressured’ him into eating a piece at his party. Would you be mad?

The mum took to Reddit explaining the rules she has set for her son including what he can eat and cannot eat, which mainly includes junk food and sweets. She’s so strict in fact that she didn’t allow him to eat birthday cake at his best friend’s party.

Except he did!

And now she’s upset and wonders if she’s over reacting.

Keep in mind, the child has ZERO allergies so the reason for the ‘no cake’ policy is simply the mum’s personal preference.

My son is 8 years old and recently attended his friend’s 8th birthday party. This friend is my best friend’s son. I don’t let my son have any/much junk food at all and usually he brings his own snacks (for this incident it was carrot sticks and ranch) to events that have a lot of sugary foods.

My best friend bakes a lot, and made a special chocolate cake for her son’s birthday. When it comes to my son, I don’t let him have cake. This is personal preference for his health, not for any allergy reasons, and he is not diabetic or gluten free. My son knows he isn’t allowed to have cake because of the additives. When he told his best friend this at the party, his friend apparently got upset and told him it was “good cake”, not bad like I say, because his mom made it, and it was his birthday cake. My son ate cake, got a sugar rush, and crashed, making him cranky for the rest of the day after we left the party.

I told my friend she needs to have some kind of consequences for her son to teach him not to peer pressure other children into eating things they’re not allowed to have. She said because it wasn’t an issue of allergies or health, that she’s sorry my son was cranky but she won’t be punishing her son or talking to him about it on his birthday. She says also that she’ll just that she’ll watch more closely/make sure her husband does in the future, as well as have a chat with him on another day about respecting food habits. (I love my friend, but historically, her and her husband have always said ‘yes’ to their son and not given him any consequences for anything.)

Both of us were present at the party and did not see them sharing the cake (they were outside eating in the backyard with their fathers and some other parents supervising while we cleaned up) so it’s not an issue of anyone going behind anyone’s back, just teaching children boundaries and respect.

I let my son stay for the rest of the party and be with his friend, so it’s not like I ruined the day.

AITA for being upset with my friend’s son and the fact that she won’t punish her son for pressuring my son into eating cake?

When the mum confronted her friend about the incident she didn’t think that it was an issue because it wasn’t a health concern or an allergy. Also she didn’t think it was right to punish her kid for offering cake to his guest on his birthday.

The friend did agree however that she would speak to her son about respecting others people’s eating habits. Especially since the mum said her son had a sugar rush and was cranky all day.
Commenters defended the birthday boy’s mum, claiming it was a huge over reaction over something as simple as a piece of cake.

God forbid your son experience a moment of joy and celebration.
YTA
FYI- “sugar rushes” are a myth. They have been debunked many many many times by scientists and medical professionals.
That your son was irritable for the rest of the day was likely because, having had fun at a friend’s birthday party, you ruined his enjoyment of the party with your ridiculous attitude and over-the-top indictment of the whole party. I can only imagine your son’s embarrassment at you having the utter gall to demand consequences for a kid, on his birthday, who shared his cake with your son (who, by your own admission has NO health issues that would be affected by said cake).
It wasn’t the cake that made your son irritable, it was YOU.
I seriously doubt that you being declared the a**hole in this will in any way soften your views on such things. Its perfectly fine to want to make sure that your kids eat nutritiously. You also shouldn’t be a fascist about it. In fact, the more you try to exert such iron control over it, the higher the likelyhood you will drive your son straight into an eating disorder. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that your son has a stash of candy at various places.
Because of YOU. SoImaRedditUserNow

What do you think? Would you have been upset?

Images: Pixabay