An 18-year-old boy is being shamed by his father for wanting to flaunt his beanbags on a Caribbean family vacation.
On the cruise, the young man tried to wear a cheeky bathing suit, shocking his dad who demanded he buy something less “sheer when wet.”
But when the son returned from his brief shopping trip, his father was left scratching his head.
Desperate for advice, a father shared his story on the ‘Am I the A**hole’ subreddit, detailing an unfortunate situation with his 18-year-old son Jax on a Caribbean cruise.
The young man joined his mother and his father on the weeklong vacation, celebrating the end of his school year.
“Jax is a great kid he seems to have a confidence issue. As in TOO MUCH confidence.” Writes the father of his daring son, who he describes as an “exhibitionist.” “I’ve never seen anything like it, He’s the most self-assured guy in the world. It’s not unfounded, he’s great looking and athletic and definitely a ‘Mr. Personality’ type, but still a bit goes a long way.”
Next, the dad explains that Jax is incredibly charming and that when he challenges authority, he usually wins. “But in this case, not so,” adds the original poster (OP).
Ship sails, suit fails
After the family settled into their room, Jax prepared for his first time at the pool, believing he was dressing to impress his audience of young women.
His dad, however, was not impressed.
“Let’s just say his swimsuit was NOT appropriate. At all. Definitely a ‘flaunt it’ type of suit.
I told him to put on something else. He had nothing. The kid had packed nothing but those for a weeklong cruise. What was he thinking?”
Jax was wearing a Speedo-style bathing suit made by AussieBum. To be clear, the brand boasts these “daring” swim briefs have an “enhancing pouch” along with “maximum sheerness when wet.” In addition, the suit “maximizes detail,” especially when wearing the lighter colors that “are more sheer.”
The OP writes, “If they had been black I might have let it slide, but not with the baby blue. They are literally marketed as ‘hey look at my big d***.’ Even more so, they went well beyond that, there was zero mystery as to what’s what in them, detail-wise.”
Played the ‘dad card’
Embarrassed by his son’s choice of attire, the father gently suggested he buy a more appropriate suit at one of the ship’s stores.
Despite initially protesting his father’s demands, Jax went shopping and returned with another “speedo-style suit that was a lot better than what he had before but still not appropriate. And of course, he couldn’t return a swimsuit.” The OP continues, “I told him to go back, buy a proper suit like trunks or boardie shorts or whatever, which he reluctantly did.”
After rallying through an argument with his dad, Jax gave in and purchased a father-friendly suit.
“He whined about it, begged to wear his original, but I said no. As I said I have to admire his confidence as he would have no issue being at the pool like that and will chat up girls all day long (he is a shameless flirt) but there’s a time and place.”
Before asking Redditors “AITA and should I have just let him wear what he wanted?” the dad explains that he gave Jax the money for the suits and only wanted his son to be “decent.”
“I might be the a**hole because he is technically an adult and can wear what he wants…I played the ‘dad card’ and was also paying for the trip so felt I had the right to make some rules. I could be wrong.”
‘That’s so inappropriate’
After seeing a photo of Jax’s “budgie smugglers” – the poster provided a link in his post – the majority of users offered their support.
“Ask your son if he would feel uncomfortable if you wore those and sat next to him,” writes one user.
A second offers, “On a family vacation, I wouldn’t want to look at my child’s genitals either but that’s just me. Yeah he’s 18 but if my child was 50 I still wouldn’t want to look at their genitals.”
Other Redditors had mixed opinions on father’s demands: “It’s just really sexual. [Not The A**hole] for not wanting her son to perv out on a vacation with his parents, but soft [You’re the A**hole] for not accepting a normal speedo.”
One netizen writes, “Just reading the title I went with YTA, but then I saw the pic and was like oh man, nevermind, that’s so inappropriate.”
Another says the son was pushing his father’s patience with the first suit: “If the kid had come out with speedo #2 right off the bat, he’d probably not have said anything. But he was already kind of pissed about the ‘look at my d***’ suit so he insisted on shorts.”
Following up with the community, some who suggested he is a “prude,” the father explains he’s okay with Speedos but Jax tried “to pull one over on Dad, and I wasn’t having it.”
He adds, “I’m not a prude. Not even close. He can (usually) wear what he wants, I don’t care…If not wanting my kid to wear those in public makes me a prude, so be it.”
