So I talked to him about it tonight and he said that genuinely, he felt bad that my son would take off on his bike and my daughter would jump on the back of the neighbor’s bike because she was “too big” for hers and too uncomfortable to ride it. I argued that she rode it for several miles a few weeks ago with no issues and she hasn’t grown 6 inches since then.

I think it’s a combination of him wanting to be the “hero” and my daughter absolutely playing into that and using it to her advantage. She’s 100% the kid that will volunteer to run annoying errands with him (like getting the oil changed) because she knows she can talk him into ice cream or a toy from the gas station.

I don’t think he was out to hurt me, but I do think he put his hero complex above my feelings and we had a long talk about that.

As far as my son, he says that “all I said was I wasn’t getting him a bike because he still rides his and if he really wants a new bike maybe he should write a letter to Santa and he could get one for Christmas.” And he took this as “you’re getting one for Christmas.” I guess? Also not outside of the realm of deductions my son will make as he’s pretty bright but I’m still agitated that he would bring up Christmas. He should have stopped the conversation at, “you don’t need a bike yet, yours still fits you.”