A woman took to the Reddit page known as “AITA” (“Am I the idiot?”) to share some “weird” personal drama between her family members after a funny food fight turned out not to be so funny after all.
Posting a question, the woman asked others if she was wrong “for calling out my father-in-law when he chose my mother-in-law.” [mother-in-law] “As the winner of a contest about my children?”
The woman, whose username is “ScaleFlat338,” said in her post Thursday that her in-laws hosted a “kitchen decorating competition for the grandkids, my two daughters, [ages] 10 and 12, and my nieces, [ages] 12 and 13.”
Reddit users defend man who told his 'overwhelmed' wife to do more chores around the house
She said her mother-in-law also decorated “a cookie.”
While the mother-in-law's cookie “was very impressive,” the woman who posted on Reddit said she assumed her father-in-law would “pick one of the kids as the winner.”
A dessert decorating contest in one family (not pictured) got a little out of hand when a grandfather awarded his own wife, the children's grandmother, the designation of “winner” of the contest, entitling her to a gift card. The mother of two of the children objected to that decision. (iStock)
The prize, she said, “was a gift card,” but her father-in-law “chose my mother-in-law as the winner.”
The woman added: “I could see my daughters were upset. [Then] “My father-in-law called my youngest daughter a bad athlete.”
MAN ON REDDIT IS SURPRISED WHEN HIS WIFE ASKS FOR MORE HELP AROUND THE HOUSE: 'I DO THE BEST I CAN'
So, the woman continued, “I called my father-in-law and told him it was weird to choose an adult woman over children and the children really tried.”
The father-in-law said it was all “just for fun and that he was doing something silly.”
His response was that it was all “just for fun and that I was doing something silly.”
In the end, the mother-in-law “ended up feeling bad and said the kids could share the gift card.”
Although the mother-in-law's cookie “was very impressive,” the woman who posted her story said she assumed her father-in-law would “pick one of the kids as the winner.” (iStock)
Now, the Reddit poster's husband “thinks I made a scene for no reason” and that the mother-in-law deserved the award.
So, the woman said as she shared her story, was what she did wrong?
More than 3,000 people reacted to the post in just a few hours and more than 700 people posted comments on it.
Reddit user accused of misleading her young son by asking for an invite to a girls-only event
In the highest-rated comment so far, which garnered over 8,000 upvotes, one user wrote: “I think this is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard. A grown woman needed to beat up a bunch of pre-teens?”
This commenter added: “Didn't MIL specifically say 'I'm not in the competition'? Didn't FIL say 'This is only for boys'?”
“I think this is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard. A grown woman needed to beat up a bunch of preteens?” wrote one user on Reddit. (iStock)
The person continued: “I mean, their daughters should learn to lose gracefully, yes. But I also think they should have the ability to call out obvious nonsense, like 'a man giving his adult wife the prize in a fun children's competition.'”
“You might want to keep an eye out for future oddities.”
The same commenter said: “Is your husband's family dynamic really that bad? Because this is so far removed from any normal interaction between grandparents and children that I suspect it's the tip of a tremendously toxic iceberg.”
Then came a warning to the woman who shared the family story.
“If your husband was raised to think this is normal and truly believes his mother 'deserved' to win a cookie decorating contest against her teenage grandchildren, you might want to keep an eye out for future oddities.”
“I'm all for teaching kids the value of losing gracefully, but that competition was far removed from fair sportsmanship,” one respondent said. (iStock)
Another participant summed it up like this: “So, your father and mother-in-law hosted a fun competition for their grandkids, one of the adult hosts decided to participate and surprisingly did better than the kids, and then your father-in-law decided to put on a show about how much better an adult is than a kid at decorating cookies.”
This commenter continued: “Did your mother or father-in-law happen to want to teach the kids some strange lesson?”
The person added: “I'm all for teaching kids the value of losing gracefully, but that contest was so far removed from sportsmanship. If anything, you turned it into a lesson for your kids to call out stupid things when they see them.”
CALIFORNIA PSYCHOLOGIST Baffled By TEEN'S 'TOXIC' FAMILY DRAMA SHARED ON REDDIT: 'DEEPLY DISTURBING'
The same person noted: “There's a reason why adults are generally not allowed to participate in competitions aimed at children.”
Another person who commented on the online drama said, “They should have created a category for young people. Now they basically bought themselves a gift. Which is fine. But maybe it's not a good thing to do when you have visitors.”
“Subjective competitions in families, where someone chooses a winner, are not a great idea.”
Fox News Digital reached out to a psychologist for comment.
Kathy Nickerson, a licensed clinical psychologist in California, told Fox News Digital about the drama: “I would ask grandparents, 'What do you want your grandkids to remember about this day? Do you want them to remember that they had a lot of fun decorating cookies with family or that grandma is better than them?'”
“If we could go back in time,” said one psychologist, “it would have encouraged [the mom] Or her husband talks to grandma and grandpa from the beginning and says, “Let's not have a competition.” (iStock)
She added: “Subjective competitions in families, where someone subjectively chooses a winner, are not a great idea, in my opinion. More often than not, they end in hurt feelings and bad memories.”
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
Instead, he said, “have an objective competition. Run a race, play a card game, something where the winner isn't chosen by a judge. And we shouldn't have adults competing against kids, even when the kids are 10, 12, 13 years old. How many adults do we see participating in kids' soccer games and playing games? How many adults participate in elementary school spelling bees? How many adults compete against kids in an Easter egg hunt?”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
She said, “That's not fair.”
Nickerson said the mother in the situation “had every right” to “be upset” and was not wrong to feel that way.
For more lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle
“If we could go back in time, I would have encouraged her (or her husband) to talk to Grandma and Grandpa from the beginning and say, 'Let's not make it a competition.'”
As for how to treat children in this situation, Nickeron said, “Give them lots of love and then talk to grandma and grandpa in private. Explain all of the above to them and emphasize, 'Do you want to prove that you are superior or do you want these children to love you? If what they want is love and happy memories, don't compete against them.'”
