AITA for forcing my son to use a bidet and threatening to talk to his friends or take him to the doctor about his underwear
A father’s quiet frustration mounts as he confronts an unexpected challenge in his teenage son’s hygiene, a struggle masked by the routine of daily ch**es now laid bare in the absence of his wife.
What should be a simple act of growing independence becomes a source of tension and helplessness, revealing cracks in the boy’s readiness for adulthood and the father’s desperate attempts to guide him.
Faced with foul laundry and a son’s stubborn refusal to change, the father’s resolve hardens into action—installing a bidet as both a tool and ultimatum.
But the boy’s retreat into defiance, choosing discomfort over responsibility, turns a private family struggle into a poignant battle between care, discipline, and the painful realities of parenting a child who resists growing up.
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The original poster (OP) is feeling frustrated and obligated to manage a deeply personal hygiene issue for his 14-year-old son, a task previously handled by his sick wife.
The central conflict lies between the OP's necessary intervention to maintain household cleanliness and the son's resistance and refusal to adopt basic self-care, which the mother appears to pa*sively support.
Is the OP justified in implementing drastic, embarra*sing measures, like threatening public exposure or installing a bidet with strict usage rules, to enforce necessary hygiene on a teenager, or should the parent prioritize maintaining the existing parent-child dynamic until the mother recovers?
Internet Users Didn’t Hold Back:
The internet jumped in fast, delivering everything from kind advice to cold truth. It’s a mix of empathy, outrage, and no-nonsense takes.
NTA.