A teenager has received support online after she shared in a social media post that she’d pleaded with her grandparents to persuade her father to not give his newborn the same name as her.
The 16-year-old, who revealed that her name is Serenity, had shared in the Reddit post that her father had showed little interest in her since she’d been born and that the pair are practically estranged from each other.
“My parents were young when they had me. My mom had no family of her own and from the age of like 12, when she and my dad first got close, my dad’s family became her family too. My parents dated all through high school and they had me right after graduating. My mom died in her sleep when I was only 6 months old. She was 19,” the woman opened up online.
“My dad was never interested in me and he and my grandparents fought a lot from the time I was born to the time my mom died. They were disgusted with his lack of love or concern for me. They wanted him to be a better father than he was being and apparently pointed out my mom was the same age as him and had stepped up. But he wasn’t interested.”
“I never actually saw him at all when I was little. A couple of years ago I saw him from a distance for the first time. He had some woman with him. They later got married. Now they’re having a baby girl and my aunt was told by the wife that they wanted to name their baby Serenity, which is my name,” she added.
The teenager went on to reveal “the second I heard about this I hated it,” and that she’d chosen to ask her grandparents to convince her dad to do otherwise.
“They spoke to him but he was saying that he wanted his wife to be happy. I think my grandparents also hated the idea that he was sending a clear message that he never loved me by just using the name for the kid he wants to raise. My dad ended up backing down,” the Redditor explained.
“His wife was p***** and she blamed me even though he said it was my grandparents who intervened,” she added.
Expert Verdict: The Teenager Was Right To Speak Out
Kelsey Latimer is a licensed clinical psychologist and the business owner of KML Psychological Services. Latimer told Newsweek that the teenager did the right thing to speak out to a trusted adult about how she felt, and that her thoughts and feelings are completely valid.
“I am deeply sorry that the teenager has experienced multiple significant traumas in her young life. Despite this, she seems resilient and as if she still is open to relationships with others. This is truly amazing and something to be proud of. It also appears that her grandparents have always had her best interests at heart and I can tell she feels they love her dearly,” Latimer told Newsweek.
“It seems to me they would do anything for her that they thought was in her best interest and that she will always remain their priority. I am so glad she has that as every child deserves to feel loved and completely accepted. It seems that there is a sense of loss and abandonment here that must be extremely upsetting.”
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“I want all children to remember a couple of things. You always have the right to feel what you feel, and you do not have to apologize for those feelings. You are also not responsible for the feelings of others around you, especially adults as they are in a place of power over you—kids are not responsible for adult’s feelings,” she added.
“The other person may not be happy and that is not your responsibility; what is your responsibility is to yourself and your mental health,” Latimer explained.
What Do the Comments Say?
Since it was shared to the social media platform on September 2 by u/VegetableShine8843, the Reddit post has been upvoted by 96 percent of the users who engaged with it and commented on more than 500 times.
“You should be extremely glad your real parents had the foresight to see your bio-dad as a total piece of a c***,” one user wrote, receiving over 10,000 upvotes.
“What a selfish a******. Please don’t take whatever his garbage second wife says to heart. It had nothing to do with you, but it always had everything to do with him. I hope you’re doing okay,” they added.
Another user shared: “I wonder what went wrong with the dad. The grandparents and the rest of the family sound superb.”
The Reddit post can be seen here.
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