Are parents entitled to their kids’ birthday gifts?

Thinking back on my childhood, I don’t ever remember having to share my birthday gift with either one of my parents. My sisters? Sure. Every single thing I got somehow ended up in the hands of my older sister and was often ruined by my younger sister. But my parents never took an interest in the Barbies, books, or jewelry I got for my birthday.

Why would they?

If they wanted something for themselves, they could have easily gotten it for themselves; they are grown adults. I was a teenager who had one day a year to get something special from friends and family, my parents didn’t want anything to do with it.

It might be different when parents are not together anymore and have other families as well, which is the case for the parents in this shared story. This 16-year-old daughter was gifted a Nintendo Switch by her uncle for her birthday, which, I’ll admit, is a pretty exciting gift for both kids and adults. Mom made sure that this present was approved by Dad and connected her own banking information so that her daughter could buy games for her brand-new console. 

Dad, on his part, allowed his daughter to have the Switch at his home, but demanded to know the account information, even though it was connected to Mom’s personal details. Mom quickly figured out that the reason he wants the details is so that he can use the Nintendo for the rest of his family. But he insisted that if she refused, he would not allow the daughter to have the Switch at all.

 I think we can all agree that no parent should demand something like that, especially when the Switch was a birthday present that the daughter was extremely excited about. If the Dad wants one so bad, he should get one for himself, right?