AITA for making my ‘nephew’ eat food he ruined?

A Redditor recounts a situation with her friend’s son, whom she affectionately calls her “nephew.” While preparing some houmous, the 11-year-old requested to add Worcestershire sauce, despite never trying it on houmous before. Confident in his choice, he insisted on having it, but when the combination didn’t work out, he wanted to avoid eating it altogether.

The Redditor held firm on her expectation that he should finish what he had chosen. Now facing backlash from both the boy and his mother, she questions whether she was in the wrong for not caving. Read the original story below.

‘ AITA for making my ‘nephew’ eat food he ruined?’

He (11M) is the child of my friend, I refer to him as my nephew because he calls me Auntie. He was at my house and I made some houmous (also known as hummus.) He asked if he could put some Worcestershire sauce on his;

I asked if that’s something he’s had on it before, he replied no, I offered to give him a small portion to try it first, he insisted he likes it and wants it. I told him that in that case, even if he didn’t like it, I expected him to eat it all.

Surprise, Worcestershire sauce and houmous is not a winning combination. He wanted to leave it and have me make him something else, I reminded him that I expected him to eat it after he was so insistent on having it. I conceded I couldn’t force him to eat it but I wouldn’t be making something else.

I’m now the most horrible aunt ever and my friend is angry that I let her son ‘starve’ (this was lunchtime, she was picking him up at 5.30pm to return home, he wasn’t going to waste away.) I don’t honestly think I’m wrong here but maybe I am?

See what others had to share with OP:

[Reddit User] −  He should be taught to not be wasteful. I’m leaning towards NTA. However, is hummus the only thing he was given for lunch? That’s not very filling even if he had eaten it all.

igotakarenneighbor −  NTA In one of the comments OP answered the boy did eat the food that was served with the Hummus, He hust didn’t have hummus. I know a few kids that age and they all are mature enough to make those descisions. Also OP gave multiple chances to avoid this situation and even a warning what would happen if he didn’t like it.

If OP would have forced him to eat it, that would be somethinhg else. If he didn’t have anything else to eat, also something else with the question why hummus alone, that’s not enough. But that is not the case. In The kid still had choices from which he could eat. And he did eat bread with Feta Cheese

GorillaP1mp −  Wow. A lot of crazy responses. Definitely NTA, you provided food, you customized it to his expectations, he chose poorly. 11 years old is well within the age of reasoning and I wonder how many other people declaring they can’t reason like an adult actually have children at this age.

Kids are smarter than we give them credit for, and we can choose to direct them towards a path of logical thinking or we can choose to remove any consequences that arise from their actions. I’ll give you one guess which group ends up like some of the people we deal with today…

xaiires −  NTA. These comments are dramatic as hell. You didn’t starve him, there was other food to eat.

_Katrinchen_ −  NTA. At 11 you’re old enough to understand the concept of tasting an unknown sauce before putting it on food

Error_Evan_not_found −  NTA and I’m actually shocked you had to clarify that there was stuff to dip into the ruined hummus, like who is actually eating that straight up? Kid made his choice, as we all do, and had to learn from it.

I couldn’t begin to tell you the amount of terrible food choices I made as a kid, and I had to eat all of them. Even the few times my mom made a bad dish, we’d eat it, her most of all. Because you just don’t waste food unless it’s actually inedible (imo).

v_a_n_d_e_l_a_y −  NTA. OP clarified in the comments that he had bread and cheese and veggies to eat too and he did eat those. 

Still_Internet_7071 −  No. Lessons need be learned. He will be better for it.

Tsumugi23 −  ehhh nta you did offer to give him a small portion beforehand and he denied it

IntrepidNectarine8 −  NTA, but who in their right mind calls it houmous?

Do you think the user was unreasonable for expecting her nephew to eat the food he insisted on having, or should she have made him something else? How would you handle a similar situation with a child? Share your thoughts below!