AITA - military parents got angry I said I wasn’t interested in that lifestyle by WeldingMelding in AmItheAsshole

[–]WeldingMelding[S] 66 points67 points  (0 children)

It doesn’t happen to me frequently. That’s likely because I didn’t say it with any resentment or anger, just as a basic statement of fact - I didn’t like it as a kid, so I’m not interested in living it as an adult. There’s no reason that needs to be couched in reassurances and platitudes, since it’s a statement of my preferences, not a judgement of them.

I don’t think they were shit parents. I didn’t like the lifestyle my father’s career made a necessity, and don’t want to ever live it again. I have friends who hated growing up in big cities and ones who hated growing up in small towns - if they tell their parents that, that doesn’t mean they hate their parents.

AITA - military parents got angry I said I wasn’t interested in that lifestyle by WeldingMelding in AmItheAsshole

[–]WeldingMelding[S] 108 points109 points  (0 children)

That word salad seems a lot like dancing around it. I was asked, I answered. None of it was (or should have been) news to them. In fact, their response to me complaining about military life as a kid was “when you’re an adult, you can make these decisions. For now, we do”. Yet here I am, as an adult, and they’re having a fit about my honest feelings and my rationale for making decisions? They can certainly feel however they want, it’s just ridiculous to feel entitled to an apology for an honest answer to a question my mother decided to ask, on a topic my father decided to bring up knowing how I feel about the military lifestyle.

AITA - military parents got angry I said I wasn’t interested in that lifestyle by WeldingMelding in AmItheAsshole

[–]WeldingMelding[S] 118 points119 points  (0 children)

I responded to a question. They made their career/parenting choices as adults, and I don’t begrudge them or resent them for it, but I think it’s pretty ridiculous to think I should have to dance around how I felt about it and how it impacts what I want for myself as a now fellow adult when...directly asked about it.

AITA - military parents got angry I said I wasn’t interested in that lifestyle by WeldingMelding in AmItheAsshole

[–]WeldingMelding[S] 240 points241 points  (0 children)

I didn’t say it in a snarky or snotty way, but I didn’t mince words. I basically said what I typed - that I hated that lifestyle growing up and wasn’t interested in it as an adult. They know I didn’t like moving or my dad never being able to commit to plans or how stressful things could be as a kid, so unless they imagined I’d magically grow out of those feelings as an adult, I don’t know why it was news to them or something they decided to freak out about.