Love lives are difficult to navigate. Especially if you’re not even the one navigating. And when it’s your parents' love lives, no matter if they are divorced or together.
In my experience, parents have a certain tendency to overshare about these things, which makes kids and especially teens go like, “ugh, did I really have to hear that?”
Not that there’s anything wrong with parents getting it on, it’s super important. You go get them tigers!
But today’s story is about a parent who put his love life above the comfort of his teenage son, creating a weird situation for everybody.
More info: Reddit
It's may be hard to ask your parents to change their habits, but sometimes it is necessary
Image credits: Steh Nobre (not the actual photo)
A 16 y.o. teen boy took it online to ask whether he's a jerk for asking his dad to stop bringing so many guests over and leaving them unsupervised
Image credits: livingwdad
Image credits: Spora Weddings (not the actual photo)
The poster's dad would bring over 4-5 new people every week, sometimes leaving them alone with the boy when leaving for work
Image credits: livingwdad
Image credits: Chrysostomos Galathris (not the actual photo)
When the kid brought it up, the dad was very upset, thinking that his son was making homophobic comments, but things couldn't be further from the truth
Image credits: livingwdad
The poster said that he'd like to move out and stop the awkwardness before something bad happens
The situation is quite simple. The original poster (OP), a 16-year-old boy, moved in from his aunt’s with his dad when he got a stabler job.
What he didn’t expect, though, was that his dad would be bringing over strangers into the house almost all of the time, with 4-5 new people being in the house each week.
Weird moments happen when dad leaves for work early and the teen is left with a random man, wandering the house in boxers. The dad reassures him he’d protect his son no matter what, but the boy is right to ask how he’d do that when he isn’t at home.
When the teen voiced his concerns, saying that he doesn’t feel comfortable and if it keeps up, he’ll have to move back in with his aunt, this upset his dad, who believed his son’s comments were homophobic. According to OP and the community, there isn’t anything problematic about the teen's thoughts, because no one would feel good with strangers roaming their home.
In the comments, the boy mentions that he explained himself calmly and that it has nothing to do with his dad being gay, but he wouldn’t accept that fact.
Some commenters tried being smart and saying “well, nothing bad has happened so far, so…” which is not a very good argument on the face of it, because just because you haven’t encountered something doesn’t really mean that it doesn’t exist or can’t happen, does it?
Image credits: John-Mark Smith (not the actual photo)
Netizens on Quora have debated in the past what a teen should do in a similar situation.
People suggested staying vigilant at all times, with a phone ready, if one of the strangers starts getting too friendly. Another suggestion is to let a family member or friend know what’s happening, who could provide some sort of support or get them the heck out of there.
But listen up, single parents, do not despair! There has to be a good middle ground between strangers daily and having a dead bedroom, god forbid.
One solid idea, which the Quora peeps mention too, is simply trying to spend the night at the other person’s house, rather than have a stranger over, if your teen is uncomfortable with it.
Commenters on the original Reddit post also suggested that the dad should make sure his friend for the night has left his home when he leaves work, which may inconvenience random person number 17, but it would certainly let the teen feel and actually be safer.
Kristen Craren from Greenway Therapy also suggests keeping your love life separate from your kids, as it may promote negative perceptions about relationships, even making kids lose respect for parents.
Once the person has stuck around for several months, then it’s all good and you may start thinking about introductions.
Also, you should take care to “separate” your love life a bit more literally, as no one wants to hear “ghosts” haunting their flat - and that goes both ways.
The story collected more than 4.8k upvotes and from the 438 comments, it seems that there was only one person calling out the poster for being a jerk, while the rest of the community agreed that he isn’t and that his dad is putting him in harm’s way.
Share your own stories and opinions below, we love to hear from you!
The community judged the poster not to be a jerk and said that he should do anything he can to become safer
Image credits: Sebastian Sørensen (not the actual photo)
