Spouse Comforting Injured Daughter Not Prepared For Reason Wife Storms Out Of The Room

A parent who comforted their young daughter after she hurt her foot has been applauded online, despite their wife’s anger.

The parent and original poster (OP), Reddit user BreaditShreditReddit, recounted the incident on r/AmItheA******, explaining how their five-year-old daughter suddenly began crying out and hopping on one foot toward her mom, looking for comfort.

“Instead of consoling her,” the OP wrote, “my wife kept insisting she wasn’t hurt saying she just tripped on the rug. Our daughter kept saying she stepped on something but my wife kept disregarding it.”

An Unexpected Reaction

After keeping quiet on the situation at first, the OP eventually “stood up” for their daughter, noting that she had been playing with LEGOs the night before in that same area.

When the OP looked at their daughter’s foot and saw it was bleeding, they proceeded to clean and bandage it.

Despite the obvious injury to her daughter’s foot, the OP’s wife stormed upstairs.

The OP recalled, “I wait a while to see if she comes back but she doesn’t…When I check on my wife, she is brooding and angry…She said I provoked our daughter to go against her. I told her all I was doing was acknowledging our daughter was hurt when she was denying it.

“She then said I should have never come upstairs and made her angry. I told her she was acting childish and the situation was about helping our daughter, not about her…I now feel like I’m in the dog house for no good reason.

“I understand my wife may feel like it’s us against her and probably feels isolated, but I personally feel in this situation, she is being immature and self-absorbed.”

When the OP asked the Reddit community whether they were in the wrong for how they had handled the situation, many users applauded them for their response.

One user asked, “Did she see that your daughter’s foot was bleeding? That’s not ‘ganging up on her’, that is taking care of an injured child.”

A second similarly commented, “So your wife invalidated your daughter and was upset that you checked and saw that daughter was bleeding. Then she took it personally instead of admitting she was wrong and apologizing to daughter?

“Does she always get upset when she’s proven wrong? You’re NTA but your wife is childish and needs to grow up.”

A third noted, “She was wrong. Your daughter was hurt and you took care of that. It wasn’t a plot to show your wife up. That’s the line you need to hold with her.”

In several replies of their own throughout the thread, the OP explained that their wife—who they think does feel bad “deep down”—tends to “victimize” herself.

Victim Mentality

According to mental health professionals at Verywell Mind, people who feel as though “everyone else”—such as their partner or other family members or friends—is against them may have a “victim mentality”.

When it comes to identifying those with a victim mentality, experts note there are several other potential signs to look out for. To help them, the experts suggest allowing them to talk and share their feelings, not apologizing if you “don’t feel that you are solely to blame for a situation”, and encouraging them to speak to a therapist if necessary, among other tips.

In a different example of parenting drama, Newsweek also covered the online discussion that was sparked by a parent who broke their kids’ veganism against their ex’s will.

Newsweek contacted the OP for comment via Reddit.

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