Mom stands up to brother-in-law trying to make daughter with autism upset as a 'joke'

When a person cracks a joke, they have to be mindful that it should not hurt the sentiments of someone else on purpose. A mom, u/tamponsaver, experienced something similar with her brother-in-law, Hector, who was picking on her kids in her absence. The man was also trying to make her 14-year-old autistic daughter Lisa upset, so she decided to call him out for that. The mom shared the story on Reddit and asked people if she overreacted in that situation.

"I have three kids: Rob (16), Lisa (14) and Anne (9). Lisa is autistic, and her special interest is Taylor Swift," the mom shared. She added that Rob and Anne indulge Lisa's interest in Taylor Swift, and they are really supportive towards one another. At the same time, the mom has a brother-in-law who tries to rile people up at all times. "You know the whole 'it’s just a joke bro.' Super childish, but whatever, 'he’s family.'" Her husband was not in town at that time, and during that time, the uncle started making fun of Lisa's interests. "A few weeks ago, he started needling Lisa by making fun of Taylor Swift, using lots of childish name-calling words, intentionally using the wrong word for fans and stuff."

The mom found it childish. Also, she clarified that Lisa was passionate about Taylor Swift, but she understood that many people did not like Taylor Swift. One of Lisa's best friends didn't like the singer, and she was okay with listening to different opinions. But Hector did many things to irk her. "He would say, 'Well, Swiffers did x y z.' She would say, 'Uncle Hector, it’s Swifties,' and he would say it again to needle at her." Lisa's brother Rob was in the room with them at that time, and their mom wasn't. "Why do you keep using the wrong word? She told you the right word," the boy remarked. The uncle got back with a "he can say whatever he wants and to 'cry about it.'" The brother pointed out that the unclez was just trying to upset Lisa.

Rob encouraged Lisa to finish what she was saying and ignore their uncle. At that moment, the mom entered the room and heard Hector say, "Roberta's getting real mad that someone's joking about mother." Rob immediately questioned his uncle about that. "Did you really just call me a girl's name? Are you 12?" The mom was done with Hector and asked him to stop. But the brother-in-law suggested that she was raising "soft kids" who couldn't take a joke. "I said he's being so effing rude and that he wouldn’t be acting like this if my husband was home. I said that if he still wanted to go with us to Colorado in the summer like we were planning, he had to stop NOW, or he was not coming." 

Hector got mad and walked out of the house after that. Later, she got a call from her mother-in-law, who told her that the holiday was the only good thing in Hector's life after he had been laid off from his job. People in the comments rallied around the mother after knowing the whole story. u/Perfect_Ring3489 wrote, "You should be proud of your son for standing up for his sister. The brother-in-law does not deserve to go for being a nasty piece of work." u/Enzown commented, "He could be pathetic enough that he's actually researching things he can mock your kids with." u/IgnotusPeverill remarked, "Good for you. He's acting like a whiny, rude teenager, so you threatened like a teenager. I would already be not taking him just to keep the peace."