As somebody who is about as far removed from the world of parenting as it is possible to be, I’m morbidly fascinated by the strange new childhood rituals that this generation of parents are creating. What the heck even is an elf on the shelf? Don’t get me wrong, parents weren’t better people when I was a kid. However, the needless extra-ness of some moms and dads these days often seems like a step too far.

Before today, I’d never heard of the phenomenon of a ‘smash cake’ — a treat that people give their children on their birthday to manhandle and mess up, as well as eat. To me it kind of seems like a pointless waste of food, especially when the kid will likely go to town on the slice they get given anyway. Still, I’m sure it can be harmless fun. Except when somebody tries to serve up the gross remnants of that cake to their child’s birthday party guests, that is. 

This is the situation that @Bright_Mango82 found themselves in when their nephew turned 1. After watching him smash the cake in gory detail, they expected another one to be brought out to eat. Instead, their sister served up what was left to all the party attendees. 

Shockingly, they were the only one who wasn’t so hot on eating baked goods with child bodily fluids all over them. Their sister might not have been happy, but Redditors agreed that they were not being unreasonable.