Her Son Put His Arm Around His “Girlfriend” Without Asking, So Mom Schools Him On Consent. Dad Strongly Objects Saying It’s Innocent Fun.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a divisive story.

It comes to us from Reddit’s “Am I the *******?” page and it’s one of those topics that will undoubtedly get people a little bit fired up…

So was this dad out of line or was what he said to his son no big deal?

Get all the details below and see what you think.

“I (32f) and my husband (34m) have three kids, 2 teenager girls and a 10 year old boy.

Last week, I spotted him on the playground putting his arm around a girl from his class and when I asked him about it he said she was his girlfriend.

She didn’t see eye to eye with her husband on this one.

My husband laughed and told him “don’t break too many hearts.”

I asked my son if he had asked the girl if it was okay before he put his arm around her and he said no.

I gently explained to him that he shouldn’t ever touch girls like that without getting their consent first.

He didn’t know what consent meant so I had a mini discussion with him about how it’s not nice to touch people without their permission and asking first means that you know the other person doesn’t mind.

My husband was silent during the entire conversation. My son didn’t seem to be bothered by our small talk (which only lasted a couple of minutes), replied with “okay” and then went to go play his Switch.

Dad was not pleased at all.

After he left the room my husband went off on me, saying that I’m making my son sound like a predator in the making, that it’s just innocent playground fun, and that I’m blowing it way out of proportion.

I obviously don’t think my 5th grader is a predator, but I felt like it was important to teach him about the idea of consent from a young age.

However, I do have a complicated history when it comes to this subject so maybe that’s clouding my judgment.

So, AITA?”

Here’s how folks responded on Reddit.

This person said she’s NTA.

Another individual said her husband is all wrong about this.

One Reddit user made a good point.

This individual said this is all about teaching respect.

And one Reddit user disagreed with the previous folks and explained why they feel this way.

Sounds like folks are kind of divided on this one.

It’s definitely a tough call, but asking for permission first is likely always going to be the best bet.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.