Kristen’s eleven year old niece was poking at her husband over and over and kept knocking over his iced coffee and hitting him in the head. Eventually he got so frustrated that he threw his iced coffee in her face. She started crying and everyone thinks he’s a monster. But I think he did the right thing and she had it coming. Is there ever a time where its ok that a grown man threw his iced coffee in the face of a little girl?
Jonathan: We’ve got Kristen on the line with us. Hey, Kristen.
Kristen: Hi. Hi.
Jonathan: Your problem is that your husband turned into a real housewife of Boston, threw his drink in a girl’s face. What happened?
Kristen: Well, let’s provide some context here. We were at a family Christmas party this weekend. And there’s this one niece that we have who just needs so much attention. And she decided she was going to pick on my husband. So every time I look over, she’s saying, oh, you’ve got flies around you, you’ve got flies around you. And she’s smacking him. She’s saying that she’s hitting the flies, but there’s no flies over his drink.
Jonathan: Were there flies? Is your husband made out of garbage?
Kristen: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He’s not Pigpen. No.
Ayla: Interesting.
Kristen: Right? You know how kids get it in their heads that there’s just something so hilarious.
Jonathan: Yes, they’re very annoying.
Kristen: She just heard one of her cousins had done this to her. So now she’s doing it to my husband.
Ayla: How old is she?
Kristen: She’s eleven.
Ayla: Okay. Okay. Yeah, kids do that.
Kristen: But she also was doing it to his drink. She’s like, Oh, there’s flies on your drink. And she would go to bat the fly away and she knocked over his drink multiple times.
Ayla: What was he drinking?
Kristen: Just an iced coffee.
Ayla: Okay. Those are expensive these days.
Kristen: Right? My husband was patient. He was. He was being very, very patient with her. But just after time after time of time of her smacking him and knocking over her drink, he kind of lost it. And he threw his iced coffee in her face. The whole party stopped.
Ayla: Like I am doing right now.
Jonathan: Yeah. All right. Record scratch.
Kristen: I mean, it was iced coffee. It wasn’t that bad. She was a terror, but the whole entire family took her side. They’re all like, How could you do that?
Jonathan: They took the side of a child over the adult.
Ayla: She’s just eleven years old.
Kristen: Yeah. And her parents should have stepped in and said, Honey, you need to stop this. This is not appropriate. But they didn’t.
Jonathan: So real quick, what was her reaction to this? Was she upset? Did it stop her?
Kristen: Obviously she was upset. She started crying.
Ayla: She did? I wouldn’t want a drink in my face at the age of 35. I would cry, too.
Jonathan: Oh, depending on the drink. I personally am 100% on his side. Well, actually, I want to hear from Kristen. What did you do?
Kristen: I defended my husband. I said that this wasn’t appropriate for this child to be unleashed like this. You know? She was crying, but she was terrorizing my husband.
Ayla: She was playing with her uncle, who she probably doesn’t see very often and was so excited to be around family.
Jonathan: Is this your biological niece or is it his?
Kristen: It’s my biological niece.
Jonathan: Okay.
Ayla: I never threw a drink at my cousin, who is kind of like your niece, because she is that age. She’s eleven.
Jonathan: I would, if my wife did this, 100% have her back. Is your husband like a horrible person, is an abusive monster?
Ayla: Does he do things like this often?
Kristen: Just then. He was stressed. It’s the holidays. It took a lot of effort to get there with our children and we’re just trying to have a nice time. You know, it was a weak moment for him. And I’m just trying to defend the fact that it’s not his fault if he got terrorized and he overreacted. I don’t think the whole entire family should just be disowning him now.
Jonathan: I’m a big believer that if you can’t discipline your kids, somebody is going to, if you refuse to take any kind of responsibility for them.
Ayla: Yeah, but that’s not disciplining, that’s attacking.
Jonathan: Well then somebody’s going to lose it on them and they have it coming.
Ayla: You’re an adult. You don’t have to lose it on an eleven year old.
Jonathan: I’m 100% on your husband’s side and your side. Kristen, thank you so much.
Kristen: Thank you. Yes, let’s figure this out.
