A father recently shared the story of how his 9-year-old stepdaughter brought her rabbit to a funeral, much to the dismay of his biological daughter.
Here’s what he had to say.
The man has a 17-year-old daughter called Isa. Her stepdad recently died, and the entire family was invited to the funeral. “I felt terrible because I knew while they weren’t super close, he’d been in her life since she was 5, so I knew it must’ve hit hard”, he said.
The man’s 9-year-old stepdaughter, Ava, would also attend the service. However, there was just one problem. Ava suffers horribly from social anxiety.
“She’s homeschooled because of it and has difficulty going to social outings. She’s in therapy and has an emotional support rabbit named Luna,” he said.
Since the funeral would be pretty crowded, the girl’s parents decided to let her bring Luna to the funeral to help calm her nerves and provide some comfort. However, his 17-year-old daughter had a real issue with it.
“She quickly told me she didn’t think it was a good idea,” he said, and that pets were not allowed at this particular cemetery.
“I told her this was a rabbit; what harm could it do? Besides, there was a genuine medical reason for bringing the rabbit.” The daughter then Googled the cemetery and showed her dad that “only service animals were allowed to come.”
Even so, the dad insisted that Ava bring the rabbit, and if any issues arose, they would just leave. “She begged me not to, saying her stepdad’s death was already hard enough on her mom, and she didn’t want any drama to make it worse. I told her I’d think about it and keep that in mind”, the dad explained.
He did give it some thought, but he was also sensitive to the needs of his stepdaughter, who needed emotional support. “She wouldn’t make it through the funeral if she didn’t have the rabbit,” he said, and really, he didn’t know what else to do.
So Isa drove to the funeral with her mom while his family drove together separately with the rabbit in tow. Isa and her mom were waiting for them at the entrance. When Isa saw the rabbit, “she freaked out and started yelling that she told me not to bring it,” the dad said.
He explained why they brought the rabbit, but then his daughter screamed that he should have left his stepdaughter at home. This caused the little girl to cry. “I felt bad because I know she was already dreading the social interaction, so hearing her sister say that must’ve hurt her badly.”
His wife then put her crying daughter in the car, and they were told to leave by Isa’s mom. “No kind words were spoken by either party,” the dad explained.
The dad feels terrible about the situation, and Isa has not been in contact since the funeral.
So he asked the Reddit community if he was wrong for bringing the rabbit, and most of them agreed that he was.
One user said, “YTA. Since when did this funeral become about you and a rabbit? You were told explicitly not to bring animals, but you went ahead and decided to disrespect a grieving family’s wishes on probably one of the hardest days of their lives and did it anyway.”
Another wrote, “And “emotional support animals” are pets. Just pets. You were putting Ava’s needs ahead of Isa’s. Which is even more appalling as Ava (and you) had no connection to the deceased when Isa did.”
Do you think the dad was in the wrong?
Source: Reddit
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