Aunt locks her bedroom to avoid her 11-year-old nephew from breaking his collectibles, hurting the little boy’s feelings, her brother says: ‘[she] was more concerned about plastic than the boy’s mental health.’ – FAIL Blog

It’s not really about the collectibles, but about the lack of limits parents put on their children nowadays.

Blaming other people for their child’s lack of manners is so common among parents. As if it were so hard to admit when they are wrong. Especially when they still have time to correct their errors as parents and teach their kids how to behave. But no, it’s better to be an annoying adult who makes excuses and blames everyone else. Children should have limits. They have to be educated. As parents and responsible adults, you have the irrenounceable task of guiding and forming them into functioning adults. That can’t be accomplished if you only say yes and comply with whatever your child asks for, like a genie granting wishes. Parents HAVE to control their children, not only to teach them but also to protect them. An uncontrollable child that doesn’t have the tools to think before acting is a child in danger.

In this Reddit story, what is happening is not some adult being overprotective about plastic figurines. Is the direct consequence of parents not taking their job seriously enough. Is having a child not only be uncontrollable, destructive, and unapologetic, but also not even able to speak out for himself. Kids make mistakes, but there is no reason for an 11-year-old boy to be destructive towards somebody else’s belongings. He should already know that he has to be careful. And also, he should be able to express himself, so when he encounters something that he seems is unfair (like her aunt locking her bedroom door to avoid him entering), he should have the capacity to say something, defend himself. He is 11, not 6. He has to act a certain way. And the fact that he is not complying just because his parents aren’t mature enough to admit the role they have and control their child is just outrageous. This situation was not going to get solved with a phone call blaming the child’s aunt to justify the parents’ mistake. This needs to be treated as an alarm to start getting involved in the child’s development and education. If we only excuse this, it’s going to get worse and end with an infantilized adult.