Her Mom Always Wanted a ‘Little Boy of Her Own.’ Teen Confronts Her for Making Her Feel ‘Rejected’

A teen turns to the Reddit community for advice following a tense and emotional confrontation with her mother, who she believes has always wished she were a boy instead of a girl.

The 17-year-old poster explains that she is an only child, a fact that has always puzzled people who know her family, especially given her mother’s long-held desire for a big family.

“She was always open about wanting a big family with at least five kids,” the teen writes in her post, “and she was saying that right up until she found out I was a girl.” According to the teen’s father, her mother immediately changed course after learning the baby’s sex during the scan and abruptly told everyone she no longer wanted more children.

The young woman shares a deeply personal theory as to why. She says her mother’s side of the family is filled with women, and that male births have been notably absent for generations.

Still, the shift in her mother’s attitude felt directly tied to her being born female. “I think mom didn’t want to have more kids if it was just more girls like me,” she says. Over the years, she’s observed a distinct pattern in her mother’s behavior. Particularly around families that have all boys.

“I remember times my parents took me to public park events and mom was always obsessed with the all boy families,” she recalls. Her mother would engage those parents with enthusiasm, telling them, “they were so lucky with their boys,” and confessing that she’d “love to have a little boy of her own.”

Those encounters left a lasting impression on the teen, who says her mother would visibly struggle when asked about her own daughter. “I heard a lot that girls are hard or there’s just something special about baby boys that she never got to experience,” she explains.

Even within the family, there were reported signs of jealousy and resentment. Her mother seemed especially cold toward her aunts on her dad’s side, both of whom had multiple sons. “She was always weirdly hostile toward my aunts and would say how lucky they were but not in the friendly way she said it to the other random families,” she says.

That distance translated into their own relationship as well. The teen reveals that her mom has always been emotionally distant, often redirecting her needs and concerns to her father. “A few times she has spent a bit of time with me alone but it always felt forced and like it was the last place she wanted to be,” she says.

Her father, while more present, hasn’t offered the support she hoped for. “When I told him it made me feel rejected he told me my mom loved me in her own way,” she shares. But that explanation has never quite been enough.

The tension finally boiled over during a recent family gathering at her grandparents’ house. When the conversation turned to parent-child getaways, her mother dismissed the idea, saying there was “zero point” in going. That’s when the teen spoke up.

“I told them that mom would never go with me because she wishes I had been a boy and not a girl,” she says. The room fell into confusion, and while some of the older family members seemed puzzled, her cousins appeared to understand.

When asked to explain further, the teen didn’t hold back. “I told them she’s always looked longingly at all boy families and considered them lucky for having boys and that she believes they’re more special,” she recounts. Her mother, rather than denying it, simply rolled her eyes.

Her father attempted to silence her, but she ignored him, continuing to share what she felt had been ignored for far too long. “I told them she chose to have no more kids after finding out I was a girl,” she says. Her comments brought the conversation to a halt, and she was asked to leave the room so the adults could talk privately.

Later that night, her mother confronted her angrily, accusing her of being manipulative and intentionally making things awkward. “She told me I had set out to try and make her uncomfortable,” the teen writes, but she pushed back, arguing, “it’s not my problem if she doesn’t want to address the truth.”

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Her father once again stepped in, telling her that while he understood her pain, “drawing attention to mom’s preferences like that was not the right move.” But the teen stood her ground. “I told him I couldn’t go back and be born a boy so nothing could fix it,” she says.

Despite the gravity of the situation, the rest of the family has chosen to ignore what happened and move on. The teenager, left feeling unheard yet again, turns to Reddit to ask if she was wrong for speaking up.

In the comments, support poured in. One user tells her, “Not your fault you’re being emotionally neglected by your mother while your dad does nothing to help.” They add, “Maybe it’ll teach her to watch how she acts or speaks before she loses the chance at any sort of relationship with you.”

“I trust my dad to know mom changed her mind when she found out I was a girl,” she concludes. “She was only mad about being questioned by her family.”