A man has been left heartbroken after his new wife mocked the present his son lovingly made for her. He explained how his 15-year-old son has a passion for woodwork and wanted to make something special for her birthday.
The young boy spent hours carving out a wooden tree from a block of wood - even carving their names into it to give it an extra touch. But the gift was ill-received - with the step-mum asking the boy to leave it at home because it's "ridiculous".
Taking to Reddit, the dad said: "I remarried after my late wife passed away. I have a son. My current wife and I have been together for two years. She generally has a good relationship with my son although they tend to have some disagreements from time to time.
"My son has a background in arts that involve wood. He used to help his grandfather with his woodworking and learned how to make hand made wooden items and use them as gifts.
"I planned a dinner party for my wife's birthday at a prestigious restaurant.
"The day before the party, she was cleaning my son's room and saw what he got her for her birthday and that was a wooden tree with mine, hers, and his name on it.
"She talked with him and told him while she thought it was a sweet gift, she asked that he don't bring it to the restaurant and give it to her there."
Confused, he confronted his wife about to better understand her mindset.
"She flat-out said that she thought the gift looked ridiculous and she didn't want it to be seen in that prestigious restaurant, and in front of her guests," he added.
"I lost it on her and told her she should be ashamed of herself for saying this when my son was being sincere and thoughtful.
"She swore she wasn't 'ashamed' nor 'embarrassed' by his work and even said she'll take the gift but she simply didn't want it to be seen there."
Disgusted by her reaction toward the present, he decided to cancel the meal altogether.
He said: "She went off on me calling me unreasonable for outright cancelling her birthday over such a trivial thing.
"I refused to keep arguing but she threw a fit about how I ruined her birthday and made her lose respect for me and my promises.
"My son kept the gift since she left the house two days ago, and her mum has been chewing me out for my decision and calling me an a***hole for treating her daughter like this."
However, he has been left wondering whether he "overreacted" about the entire situation - so has asked Reddit users for their thoughts.
In response, one user said: "Your wife doesn’t sound like a very kind person at all but incredibly shallow and cruel. This calls for a 'What the hell is wrong with her?'."
Another user added: "Cancel the whole marriage."
A third user said: "She's old enough to pretend to like it even if she really doesn't for his feelings.
"I would be taking that tree table to table to show it off if my kids made me something that thoughtful."
One more user added: "A 15-year-old handmade a birthday gift for his step mother? I don’t know if she can see it’s actually two gifts.
"One, obviously the tree itself and two the thought and work he put into it. She can plan her own party."
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