Big wins feel good, but sometimes the little ones need the most celebrating. But for one man, his wife's seemingly major accomplishment feels like anything but.
To him, the fact that his 26-year-old wife is raising five kids makes her a supermom. But the fact that she finally got her GED is leaving him feeling less than impressed.
High School Dropout Mom
The couple started dating in high school, and they've been together ever since. He was able to graduate high school and immediately went to work for his father's company. She got pregnant before graduation, however, and had to drop out.
After the twins came (the last set of kids), OP's wife was bedridden for a long time, and they had to get extra hands to help with childcare. The nature of his job keeps him on the road a lot, so he couldn't be there to help. This helped his wife get more free time on her hands.
When she found out about a testing center that gave GED tests every week across the state of Idaho, she enrolled in a GED prep class online. She always wanted to finish high school, and being bedridden was giving her the chance.
She opted for self-paced learning because, according to him, “The stuff they were testing her on came way easier to her now than it did then, even though she's been away from structured classroom instruction for many years now.”
GED Basically Means Nothing
OP's wife put in the work, studying for the exam after dropping their eldest kids off at school. OP saw what she was studying.
Honestly, he was unimpressed. “I knew that getting a GED basically means nothing,” he wrote, adding that he didn't think it would even help her get a job, let alone go on to college.
Thinking that your wife is wasting her time with a course but not trying to discuss things with her seems like a pretty wrong course of action. Plus, from the look of things, time is one thing she doesn't have.
Fast forward to the future, OP's wife took the test, and guess what? She passed.
Excited as she must have been, she came into the room to announce her success, but OP wasn't excited about it. Surprise, surprise. He just nodded at her and continued replying to “an important email from a client.”
According to him, he knew she would pass all along. Plus, to him, the test subjects are so “rudimentary” that it would've been more shocking if she failed.
As expected, his wife got upset that he didn't show any excitement. At this point, he could have apologized or noticed that things were about to go through the roof. He didn't. Instead, he told her that he wasn't excited because the test was not a big deal and that she just “needed something to prove to herself that she knew the high school concepts.”
So, his wife got mad. Now he wants to know if she should be upset, or if he's right in thinking a GED isn't a big deal.
Reddit Tears OP Up
Yup, they absolutely “wolf” him, and not in the cute Love-Joe Quinn Goldberg way.
u/PilotEnvironmental46 said,
“YTA. You're a major AH. Your wife is trying to look after five children and found the time to get her GED. Why don’t you let her go out of town for a week and see how hard it is to look after five small children? Would it have killed you to get up, hug her, and tell her how proud you are of her? Maybe take her out to dinner one night to celebrate? Wow! I hope this isn’t indicative of the respect you give her the rest of the time.”
I hope so, too. It would really suck for any woman to get that kind of reaction, or worse when she told her partner something she was proud of.
u/LionsTigersBears0HMY replied to the above comment, ending with a theory of their own:
“A supportive partner celebrates all accomplishments, no matter how small they may seem to them (and honestly, I wouldn’t even call this small).
I also don’t understand where you got this ‘she wasn’t exactly graduating from college and wouldn’t be for 15 years' or why community college is useless? Most CCs offer ADN programs (associate nursing degree) and many others that don’t require further education. This is just one example of a great career she could have with only two years of community college.
Weird take to belittle your wife’s work in trying to receive a higher education. I’m getting ‘I want to keep her home and controlled' vibes. YTA.”
Another Redditor made what I consider an important comment:
“YTA. Like there needs to be a level above this rating for this post. She feels accomplished because she did something that she put on hold for your lives together. Meanwhile, Daddy handed you a job and you reek of self-importance.”
It may have been a small deal to him, but partners showing support for their partner's wins, whether big or insignificantly small shows how proud they are of them. Being with a partner who doesn't show this would bum anyone out, even the most understanding people.
Redditors think that OP has to do better, and so do I. What do you think?
Read the full story here.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Boloere Seibidor, fondly called B.S. is a Nigerian-based writer and poet. Her favorite topics to cover include music, especially Hip-Hop, film, lifestyle, and fashion. She's been published by Feral Journal, Fantasy Magazine, The Temz Review, and most notably, Wealth of Geeks. She enjoys romantic dinners, movie nights, and touring new sites. When she's not writing, she's delving back in time to the underground world of Hip-Hop, watching TikTok, or visiting the cinema.