AITA for not enjoying myself at a concert I told my parents I didn’t want to go to months ago?

A young person expresses their frustration about attending a concert they explicitly stated they didn’t want to go to. Despite their request, their parents insisted, believing it would be a valuable experience. Once at the concert, they struggled to enjoy it due to the language barrier and poor seating.

After the event, their parents accused them of being ungrateful for not enjoying the experience, despite their prior communication about not wanting to attend. read the original story below…

‘ AITA for not enjoying myself at a concert I told my parents I didn’t want to go to months ago?’

For some background info a few months ago my dad mentioned to me that a famous musician was performing in our city. This musician is Hispanic and sings in Spanish, we are Chinese, however, my dad knows Spanish due to growing up in Venezuela.

I don’t know any Spanish, I mentioned this and told my parents I didn’t want to go as the concert is 2 hours long, but they just waved me off. Fast forward to a few days ago, my dad sent the family group a text that the concert would be on Sunday at 7:00 pm.

I replied by asking who I would be staying with while they were at the concert my dad said that we were all going. Later I mentioned this to my mom and reminded her that I told them months ago I didn’t want to go to this concert, she told me to “be open” and that “this will be a good experience”.

The concert was in a huge building, like one that a baseball game could be held in if it was indoors. To make matters worse, my Dad got what might have been the cheapest, furthest seats from the actual stage so I could barely see or hear what was actually going on.

Naturally, his singing echoed all over the place and I could barely hear what he was saying, and again he was singing in Spanish, I know zero Spanish. After the concert, my parents asked how I liked it and when I replied and said I didn’t they said how I was being ungrateful and “they spent a ton of money on it”.

I honestly doubt that as we were in the furthest row and could barely even see the screens displaying what was happening on stage.

Here’s what Redditors had to say:

ahknewb −  NTA – you answered honestly. But you also learned a lesson. Maybe replying with something along the lines of “It wasn’t really my style of music, but thanks for introducing me to something new!” would have been more tactful.

Killer-Barbie −  You’re NTA for not enjoying yourself but you’re a little bit of an ass for expecting they would change their plans or make alternative plans for you.

mutinybeer −  ESH. I bought tickets to the opera without checking with my kids first. They were not super thrilled about it, but I was really enthusiastic because it was music that they loved when they were younger (except they forgot that they loved it…oops).

They went with me anyway even though they weren’t super thrilled by the idea. They sat politely through the entire thing, laughed at the appropriate points, thanked me for letting them see something different, gushed about the fantastic costumes….

And then we all had a good laugh about how it wasn’t what we expected it to be and maybe we’re not opera people, and I will 100% check with them before I take them to anything else, even if it seems like an AMAZING idea to me.

I think if somebody is trying to expose you to something that they’re really passionate about then it’s sometimes polite to go along with it. I bet you $100 that your parents have gone to see you do stuff that they do not care about at all just to be supportive. So you are kind of a j**k for being mean about it…

On the other hand, they are kind of jerks for expecting you to react in a certain way when you’ve made it clear that you did not feel inclined to go in the first place.

aemondstareye −  People like this are ridiculous. There is no reason to have patience with someone forcing their preferred version of reality. You don’t like the music so you don’t like the music.

They had plenty of time to arrange other plans for you and, if they needed to bring you purely out of convenience, shouldn’t be asking if you liked it and guilting you if you don’t. Absurd. NTA.

dexter-sinister −  Your parents want to share something with you that is meaningful to them. They want to have a connection and shared experiences with you. There are plenty of parents that don’t give a r**’s ass about their kids.

I would not go so far as to say YTA (though bitching that they didn’t get you good enough seats is bordering on it), I would say you’re just immature… Which is probably fitting if you’re a kid. Some life advice: try to find joy in your loved ones finding joy. But I probably would’ve ignored that advice at your age too. 

OldestCrone −  NTA. I’m with you, kid.

Mabelisms −  It sounds like you planned to have a terrible time and did.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. You are not required to force yourself to enjoy something. However, most people would sit through it and show appreciation. You didn’t. So, your parents can say you’re unappreciative, which is true, but you’re NTA for not forcing yourself to enjoy yourself.

LuxuryBell −  The amount of money spent on an experience does not really matter, if the experience was unenjoyable. Ask how they’d like to go to a rap concert and see if they would like that.

NTA. you were still open and understanding trying to enjoy the experience you did as they asked, they can’t require you to enjoy something. If they didn’t want your honest opinion, then they should’ve told you to lie to them…

Faithful_Painful −  NTA. You shouldn’t have to be grateful for something you never wanted, never asked for, and outright said you didn’t want to begin with.
…a while back I was friends with a girl who had a blood p**bia. She couldn’t do gore movies or shows. Otherwise normal, but gore fucked her up.

A boyfriend bullied and guilted her into watching  the walking dead with him. Then proceeded to mock her, berate her, and shame her for turning her head away and flinching. When she ended up throwing up, during the scene with the horse Rick was riding in the.

beginning episodes, he lost his s**t on her and called her s**fish and immature.. …that relationship ended fast. He knew from the start she didn’t like it, he knew it was going to be unenjoyable for her. Granted, her situation was a genuine p**bia, but the entitlement and projection was still there in the heart of his actions and logic.

Parents need to learn to get over it when their children don’t share their passions or interests or tastes in things. This extends to clothing, music, hobbies, even “personal” things like beliefs.

Forcing a child to do something you already know they don’t like or want that is as irrelevant and unimportant as music or a tv show… then acting shocked and offended when they naturally dislike it and don’t lie to you.. is immature and s**fish. The child is the victim there, not the parent.

My own mother died in a fire daily because I wanted to wear jeans and sneakers instead of frilly little princess dresses and socks with lace on the ankles. Shed buy them anyway, then act flabbergasted when I said I thought they were u**y or ignored them for the normal clothes I picked out, or when I’d get them destroyed climbing or digging in mud and stuff.

She only stopped once I hit puberty and she couldn’t just snatch things off a rack for me anymore. She couldn’t force me to try on those clothes, so those dresses eventually faded into the past. 

Its exhausting, e**itled, and weird when a parent puts that much obsessive focus on forcing their kid to emulate them in such a weird, small way. I explain all of this so long-windedly to try to get the general gist of my reasoning out there. You’re not s**fish or tactless or an a**hole or ungrateful.

You just don’t like it. You knew beforehand you wouldn’t and they should have had the sense to trust you to know what you do or don’t enjoy, and let you stay with a friend or stay home and watch TV or something.

I imagine that if you sought to see a d**th metal concert or something similar that was not at all to your parents’ tastes, and somehow paid and invited them, they would either refuse to go flat out.. or be truthful about not enjoying it and see nothing at all wrong with being honest.

Is it fair for the parents to expect enjoyment from something their child didn’t want to attend? What do you think? Share your thoughts below!