Parents In A Dilemma Over Whether To Ban Their Son’s Boyfriend From Their Gym Or Not

Love: getting people out of trouble since forever!

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• November 20, 2022

The teenage years are pretty delicate. It’s when a child is transitioning into adulthood, and it often comes with many transitions for parents too. Parents find the teenage years to be the most difficult stages of raising a child. 

Usually, the teenage years are when kids begin to identify their personalities, sexualities, and genders. A big part of accepting those is how their parents react to these identifications. 

Most parents try their best to navigate the transitions from having a kid who is entirely dependent on them making these decisions to having a kid who now decides for themselves. 

Navigating this period may find parents in dilemmas, and we found a pair of parents who can relate to this all too well.

A couple shared on Reddit that their 15-year-old son had started hanging out with a 16-year-old they weren’t big fans of.

Although they didn’t like their son’s friend, Lewis, they tolerated him. This was until they started receiving complaints about him bullying another boy at their athletic training center. 

They soon decided to ban Lewis from the center, but before they could tell him, their son revealed that Lewis was his boyfriend. To support their son’s choice, they considered rescinding their decision. 

However, it was important to find out if overlooking Lewis's bullying activities just because he was dating their son was a smart move to make. Thus, the couple tabled the matter before the Reddit court.

You can bet Redditors had plenty to say about this. Scroll down to read all about it!

These parents are in a dilemma. But, as always, the Reddit community is here to help.

OP explained that they decided to ban Lewis because he was bullying another boy at their athletic centre. However, they were worried that their son was going to take it the wrong way, as he had just come out as gay and revealed that Lewis was, in fact, his boyfriend.

We gathered the best reactions from the Reddit community below:

A very interesting argument between these Reddit users

"YWBTA if you do nothing. Suspend him for six months (Or whatever)"

"YTA if you just let it slide as favoritism. There still need to be consequences for Lewis bullying this other boy in your establishment."

"Banning him from your gym is first of all, business, and it's the right thing to do, morally."

"I think it's kind of wild you don't want this kid at your business, but you're okay with him dating your son?"

"Ban him and be clear. The guy is a bully, made an unsafe environment for everyone else, and his behavior is annoying"

"YWBTA for not banning Lewis from the gym if the complaints you've received already justify a ban."

"Assure him that his relationship with Lewis has nothing to do with the ban"

"Your son will probably still be mad, but as long as you make it abundantly clear why you’re doing it you aren’t at fault."

"NTA but it would be best if the ban wasn’t out of the blue."

"You have to ban him, for the sake of the business as well as other people's well-being."

Bullying is a serious offense and should never be tolerated. This is something that many Redditors reiterated in the comment section.

They believe that if OP decides to let such an act slide due to favoritism, then they would be setting a bad example. In other words, not banning Lewis would definitely make them TA in this situation.

What's your take on this matter? Would you outrightly ban Lewis for bullying or employ a different approach to avoid a negative reaction from your child?

Jesse