Mom Furious After Husband Tells 11-Year-Old Daughter She Needs to Start Shaving: ‘Hurtful’

A woman on Reddit is finding it hard to forgive her husband after he said something "extremely hurtful" to their 11-year-old daughter about shaving.

"He told her that she needs to shave herself, and I'm really annoyed at him for saying that to her. If she was insecure about it, I would be completely comfortable with her shaving if she wanted to. She doesn’t seem bothered by it, and we live in a cold climate anyway. Although she does take part in several sports. But she doesn’t care about it, so I don’t see any reason to plant an insecurity in her mind about something that doesn’t even matter," the woman wrote.

The woman raised her daughters "not to be ashamed of themselves, and I feel that having my daughter shave would make her feel that way."

"She should only start shaving when she wants to, not when someone thinks she should be. It’s bothering me that my husband doesn’t think that way, as I think that what he is saying could be harmful to her. There's nothing wrong with her, and nothing that she needs to fix. I also don't want her little sister thinking that she needs to shave as well," she continued.

However, even after confronting her husband, he didn't seem to understand why what he said was "hurtful."

"Maybe it's because he's a man, and doesn't understand what it's like being a girl around that age. It's very difficult, and I don't want her dad to be making it worse when he should be supporting her. It's bothered me so much that he's said this, I couldn't imagine how I would've felt at my daughter's age being told that. I've talked to him about it, but he just doesn't think it's a big deal," she concluded.

READ MORE: Mom Furious After Dad Helps Daughter With Her First Period

Users tried to comfort the woman in the comments, with several slamming the dad for his choice of words.

"Express your feelings to your husband about his comment to your daughter. Emphasize the importance of supporting your daughters' autonomy and self-confidence. Discuss how his words might affect her self-esteem and find common ground on empowering your daughters to make their own choices about their bodies," one person wrote.

"He needs to redefine what best means, as a father and partner. How is shaving better for an 11-year-old? Does she need to be more attractive to suitors at this age? Is it to prepare for being desirable as she ages? Is she not as aerodynamic in swimming? How does shaving improve your daughter's life? He really needs to explain it. Hopefully there would be an ah-ha moment in the conversation, but c'mon. What possible 'best' could there be for that suggestion? She'll get enough s--t from the world, she doesn't need it from her dad," another commented.

"Tell your husband that if he makes his daughter feel ugly, she will assume that ALL men find her ugly. He's working on giving her good old fashion daddy issues," someone else weighed in.