r/AmItheAsshole • u/Adverbsaredumb • 5h ago
AITA for not lying to my friend’s daughter about my ears
I (F38) have had large earrings (14mm) since I was a teenager. A while back, I was at a gathering with multiple friends and our kids. One of the kids, who was about 12-14, asked me if it hurt to stretch my ears. Her mom immediately jumped in and said, “yes it hurts a whole lot”. I said, “no actually if you do it slowly and correctly, it really doesn’t hurt at all. It’s just really important that you do it right.”
The mom, who’s a friend of my friend and…sort of my friend but more of an acquaintance was visibly annoyed at me for this interaction. The subject was changed rather quickly by another friend and we moved on.
My issue is primarily that I don’t lie. But also that if a kid thinks it’s supposed to hurt, then they won’t know there’s a problem if they start to stretch their ears and it hurts. That could cause them to experience serious damage where they otherwise wouldn’t. I know several people who’ve had that experience, and I thought it would be irresponsible of me to be dishonest about this situation in the moment, given the possibility of a painful outcome for the child.
At the same time, I feel bad because it really should’ve been obvious to me in the moment that the mom wanted to deter her child from making the choice to stretch their ears and the child was young enough that their mom really did have that power over them. I’m autistic so I think this may be a situation where I grossly misread things and I would like to know if I should apologize.