Son Hides Secret Child From Parents for 10 Years: ‘I Never Wanted to Be a Dad!’
One man is wondering if he is an a--hole after hiding his secret daughter from his parents for 10 years.
The 29-year-old man was hoping to find support for his decision, so he shared his story on Reddit's AITA forum. "I had a child when I was 19. I wasn't ready to be a dad, and I asked her to get an abortion," he wrote. "She refused, and we decided she could keep the baby, and I'll pay child support, but I wouldn't be involved in her life."
The man added he "didn't tell [his] family about it," but they recently found out anyway.
"Three months ago, when I was at work, I received a lot of angry messages from my parents asking me if I have a child," he continued. "Apparently, my ex had told them everything because she is sick and wants someone to look after the kid since her own family refused to do this."
His parents were furious.
"They were mad at me, telling me it was very selfish to hide their grandchild from them," he shared, explaining he's an only child and his daughter is their only grandchild.
"They agreed to look after her and brought her into our home," he wrote, noting he lives with his parents to help offset housing expenses.
"I told them that I can't stop them from doing this, but I still don't want to be her dad, and they agreed," he continued.
The man shared the young girl has been living with them now for three months, but he's frustrated because "everyone forgot about our agreement."
"Two days ago, my parents left her with me to go somewhere. I told them I didn't want to babysit, but no one listened to me," he explained. "As soon as they left, she started coming into my bedroom with different excuses. I finally got annoyed and told her to go to her room and not to come out until her grandparents come home."
When the man's parents returned home and realized that he had sent the girl to her room, they were upset.
"My parents came back and freaked out when they found out. They called me an AH for being a 'horrible dad,' but I never wanted to be a dad, and I made it clear several times. Am I the a--hole?"
Redditors were stunned that the man still wanted to take zero responsibility for his daughter after a decade.
"From a person to person ... have you no civility? Must you be a miserable entity to a 10-year-old child? What happened to you to be so unkind?" one person commented.
"No changing diapers. No cleaning up vomit. No dressing her. He doesn't even have to feed her. He literally feels as though it is too much to just be nice to someone in the same home who is suffering," another user wrote.
"The complete lack of empathy from him is astounding. It would be one thing if he really doesn't want to be a dad, but he should still have human empathy for a child in distress," someone else weighed in.
"I get that you never intended to be a dad, but the least you can do now is act like an adult. She didn't choose to be part of your life either. She's just trying to make the best of a new and probably very scary situation," another Redditor added. "As long as you're both living there, you've got to do at least the bare minimum ... which means actually spending time with her instead of sending her to her room, so you don't have to deal with her."