Dad blown away by daughter’s response to her ‘childish’ 16th birthday celebration: ‘Stupid games, stupid prizes’

A father is wondering if he screwed up his daughter’s 16th birthday. 

He shared what happened on Reddit’s “Am I the A******? (AITA)” forum. His daughter Shelley repeatedly insisted that she wanted absolutely nothing for her birthday. But when the big day came, she was heartbroken that her parents didn’t celebrate her birthday. 

“I have two children, Shelley and Aiden,” the father said. “We’ve always celebrated the kids’ birthdays. They always got a birthday pancake breakfast with presents. My wife would cook their choice of dinner, and there would be cake, and, if they wanted one, a party with their friends.

“A couple weeks ago, when we were approaching Shelley’s 16th birthday, I was in the car driving her to soccer practice, and I asked what she wanted to do for her birthday. She said ‘Nothing,’ which I took to mean that she didn’t want a party, so I said, ‘Just cake and presents then?’ and she said, ‘I said NOTHING.’ I was befuddled and said, ‘No cake, no presents, nothing-nothing? Are you sure?’ and she said to stop badgering her.”

The daughter continued to emphasize that she didn’t want anything for her birthday. 

“So I did. When I got home, I told my wife, and later, she verified with Shelley,” he wrote. “Apparently, Shelley was perturbed at having to say ‘nothing’ a third time. So… well, I didn’t do exactly nothing. I bought a frozen chocolate cheesecake (her favorite) just in case she changed her mind and put aside some money for an Amazon gift card so she could buy herself something when she felt like it. 

“We did what I thought she wanted and didn’t make any special kind of fuss on her birthday itself. At about 9 p.m., she burst into tears and said that she’d thought I’d take the hint and surprise her with something because, ‘Of course, I didn’t want nothing on my birthday.’ It turns out that she had expected us to surprise her with something awesome for a landmark birthday like the 16th but didn’t want to tell us what to do because ‘it sucks to plan your own party.’ And us taking her ‘don’t do anything’ at face value hurt her feelings.” 

Redditors felt the 16-year-old played herself. 

“She is old enough to stop these childish games,” someone commented

“Stupid games, stupid prizes,” another wrote

“All you did was respect her stated wishes,” a person said

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