While the stepparent and stepchild dynamic can be something wonderful, this story is about the opposite. Disrespect, dishonesty, and disappointment.

Recently, Reddit user DrDoneWithBS turned to the popular ‘Am I the [Jerk]?’ subreddit for parental and relationship advice.
In her post, the woman detailed the time her fiancé’s 16-year-old son stole her car to take his friends to the mall, asking whether or not she was too harsh to threaten him with calling the police.

Get ready folks, the twists and turns in this story make it an equally compelling and infuriating read.

This doctor needed her car at a moment’s notice when she was on call

Image credits: State Farm

But her stepson secretly took it to go to the mall

Image credits: Alex Green

After her story went viral, the woman released a few updates

The biggest one being about her breakup with Dale

Image credits: DrDoneWithBS

Many of us have a hard time building trust and can be more susceptible to anger, frustration, and depression. It sometimes seems impossible to trust ourselves, let alone our children.

And it doesn’t just happen. Trust in a relationship takes time to build and requires both people actively work to maintain it. It’s a two-way street. For a parent and child, trust is a foundation that benefits both of them:

• For kids and teens, knowing their parents trust them can deepen their sense of safety in the world, support their self-esteem and confidence as they try new things, and assure them they have someone to go to when things don’t go according to plan;
• For parents and caregivers, having a trusting relationship with your child means you’re more likely to have an open dialogue and a strong relationship. Trust can lead to upfront conversations where you can be your child’s sounding board or support system, instead of your child catching you off-guard through lies or going around your back.

However, breaches of trust are to be expected, especially as a child starts to push boundaries to test their independence. Depending on the impact of their actions, parents should work with them to decide on appropriate consequences, which could range from a simple chat about expectations to the removal of privileges.

In fact, research suggests that kids do better when their parents show affection and enforce age-appropriate limits on their behavior. There is also evidence linking permissive parenting with the development of poor self-control. So it sounds like the author of the post handled the situation pretty well if you ask me.

People on the internet have unanimously taken her side

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