Father slammed for giving stepchild a phone that only unlocks with his face: ‘He sounds controlling’

‘Forcing a relationship is a no-go,’ one respondent writes in the comments

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A man has been criticised for buying a phone that only unlocks with his face and then gifting it to his stepson.

In the popular Reddit community, “Am I The A**hole,” a 35-year-old woman, u/AITA_Face_Lock79, revealed how she’s been with her husband for three years now and got “married months ago.”

She also has a 16-year-old son, from her previous marriage, who “took his time” to get comfortable with his stepfather. However, the woman’s husband wasn’t so fond of that, as he claimed that the son was “not giving him a chance.”

“My son took his time to get used to being around my husband, understandable,” she wrote. “But my husband would rush things and then claim my son is shutting him out or not giving him a chance.

“As you know, teenage years can be hard to navigate and I already explained to my husband why my son might not find it easy to open up about everything,” the post continued. “Nonetheless, they have a stable relationship.”

About a month ago, the son’s phone broke his phone. In honour of his 16th birthday, his stepfather decided to get him a new one. However, the “excitement” over the device got ruined when the teenager discovered he could only unlock the phone with his stepfather’s face.

“My son was overjoyed and so was I,” she wrote. “However, that excitement got ruined once I found out that my husband had used his face as the only way to unlock the phone … and so without him, my son can not use the phone.”

When the Reddit poster asked her husband why he put that setting on the phone, he said that “he did this as a first concrete step towards having a parent-child relationship and move on from the friend-child relationship.”

The mom decided that her son was not keeping the phone, which according to the wife, caused an argument where her husband called her “ungrateful.”

“I said he had no right to invade my son’s privacy and have access to his personal stuff,” she explained. “I returned the phone to him and he pitched a fit about how ungrateful I’m being because he just wants to strengthen his bond with my son and then accused me of treating him as less of a parent than he is although we’re both in this together.”

She said that unless her husband’s “face lock is removed” from the phone, her son won’t take it. This “upset” her husband even more, and he claimed that his wife was “oversensitive.”

“He got more upset and claimed that he’s doing his best yet my son and I keep treating him poorly and get mad and oversensitive for no reason,”she wrote. “He said I should go hear how other ‘fathers’ treat their kids and realise my son is lucky to have him as his dad.”

She said that she “couldn’t stand” his yelling, so she stepped away from him. But, he still tried to convince her to see things from his perspective.

“He kept saying I should encourage him and be on his side for wanting to ensure my son’s okay but in my opinion this isn’t the way,” she added.

As of 18 March, the Reddit post has more than 14,800 upvotes, with readers coming to the woman’s defence, claiming that the husband seems too “controlling” over his stepson.

“The son is two years from being an adult. Forcing a relationship is a no-go,” a comment reads. “Controlling and privacy invasion? That’s definitely going to drive ANY kid away.”

“If he thinks that giving a 16 year old a phone that can only be unlocked by his step dad’s face is a ‘concrete step towards a parent-child relationship,’ he [is] smoking something funky,” a reader wrote. “There’s a reason your son doesn’t like him, maybe now you’ll start to understand why.

Many readers thought that the husband was mistreating his wife through the situation

“You can, and should, factory reset the phone, but can you factory reset your husband?” one wrote. “But you are walking a fine line if you let your husband continue to try to control your son. This is not healthy.”

“This is a major deal breaker for me if my partner got me a device and configured it to where their face is the only means to unlock it” another wrote. “Screw that; I’m better off on my own.This is grounds for separation, if not, divorce.”

The Independent has reached out to u/AITA_Face_Lock79 for comment.