In a Reddit post that has received more than 11,300 upvotes, the teenager explained that a family drama broke out when she turned 17 and was given a “super sentimental” gift: her granddad’s old truck.
The girl said her parents had divorced when she was six. She lives with her father, his wife and the wife’s son, who is now 16.
This is an unusual arrangement, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2019, just over 70 percent of the nation’s children under the age of 18 lived with two parents. However, only 1.7 percent were in households where the parents were a biological father and a stepmother.
The teenager told Reddit that she has a close bond with her paternal grandparents and stays with them every summer. Her stepbrother always receives an invitation too, but is yet to take them up on the offer.
On her birthday, she was “over the moon” when her granddad gave her the truck, she wrote. “It’s a pretty classic that he owned when he was 17 himself and took real care of it, it doesn’t look brand new, but work[s] as good as new and it’s super sentimental.
“I’ve loved that truck ever since I was a kid and I’m so happy it’s mine, my grandad and I were making plans so I could paint it pink.”
Her father objected to this girly transformation, however, saying the truck was for her stepbrother too since he didn’t get one for his birthday.
This led to days of arguments. Eventually the girl was “forced to give up the key” so a copy could be made for her stepbrother.
Her dad then made a schedule for the two teenagers to share the truck, but the girl was angry, saying it favored the stepson. She was upset with both of them but had not mentioned the situation to her grandparents—until they turned up at her home with a pink license plate frame for the truck.
She wrote: “I said thank you, but that I couldn’t and I just spilled everything, the schedule, the forced sharing, the yelling, the copy of my key, and the fact that I couldn’t change the truck to my liking because my stepbrother wasn’t going to drive ‘a pink car.’”
Her granddad was “furious,” demanding that the stepbrother give back the key and threatening to call the police if he drives the truck without permission again.
This made her dad “real mad.” He called his daughter “a selfish and entitled brat and is threatening me to make me pay rent for what I did.” Her stepbrother also called her an a**hole, which prompted her to turn to Reddit users for their verdict.
‘It’s Not Fair’
For an expert opinion, Newsweek spoke to Erin Rayburn, a marriage and family therapist in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Rayburn, founder of Evergreen Therapy, said: “It’s not fair to force stepchildren to share presents. But life isn’t usually fair. However, from how this story was presented and not knowing the inner workings of the family unit, it doesn’t seem fair that this girl was forced to share her car. At the end of the day, it truly doesn’t matter that they’re stepsiblings.
“In terms of how it may affect their relationship, there are a lot of dynamics to blended families—specifically guilt. It’s important to be aware of underlying emotional factors that drive people’s decisions, whether it’s guilt about one of them getting something that the other isn’t getting or if one of them isn’t interested in sharing their car. It’s probably not going to help the relationship and will put the other person in an awkward spot.”
What Did Redditors Say?
Reddit users overwhelmingly sided with the teenage girl—and suggested she repaint the truck immediately in “hot pink” or a “Disney princess color theme.”
The top comment, which has received 17,300 upvotes, said: “Your dad sucks. ‘He called me a selfish and entitled brat and is threatening me to make me pay rent for what I did.’ Your grandparents need to know about this too.”
A few suggested that it would be illegal to charge a 17-year-old rent. One wrote: “Dad probably can’t charge rent until OP [original poster] is 18 (or has finished school perhaps? Not sure on that one), but that’s only months from now. Unless OP has planned on moving out anyway, she should at the very least make some plans on how to proceed. Maybe moving in with grandpa for a couple of months might be a possibility.”
Another user posted: “Men are loyal to the children of the woman they love.”
Newsweek has reached out to the original poster for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
