My nephew asked me when he can play with my computer and I looked him in the eye and said (not shouted) “Never”. My mom who was sitting next to him asked me why I replied like that (implying it was an asshole thing to do) and I explained to her (and also for my nephew to know) that he had asked me a few minutes ago and I told him I’d let him know when he could play (my computer is updating, takes a while) and I’m not going to let him ask me every 5 minutes just because his mom lets him do that to her. 

I did say “he’s got to learn, so I’m not going to put up with that. I told him I’d let him know, but now I decided I’m not going to let him play on my computer, so if he asks me again the answer will continue to be Never” which I think sounds a bit asshole-ish but he’s 9 years old and his mother made the big mistake to make him think he can argue with adults over everything so whenever he wants something or doesn’t want to do something he thinks he can argue to get his way, and when it comes to his mom he pretty much always succeeds, which I find frustrating not only because it makes the child increasingly annoying but because I know that he will suffer a lot more in the long run when his little tantrums don’t get him what he wants in the real world. 

Also, I can’t explain any of this to him cause he’s friggin 9, that’s self-explanatory, and his mom because she has a very fragile ego and she takes any parenting tips as a direct criticism of her abilities and immediately shuts down any conversation about the topic by talking louder and louder until it becomes a shouting match (she is also very immature so when she “argues” with her son she goes down to his level and says the most cringeworthy things you can’t believe it’s an actual adult speaking)...

Anyway, so AITA for trying to educate my nephew through some “tough love”? (Or in other words, AITA for denying him something he wants because he whines to get his way and I repeatedly told him that it doesn’t work like that with me?)