Mom gives away 16-year-old daughter’s favorite limited-edition t-shirt, sparking confrontation between the two: ‘My mom says that I shouldn’t be upset because [she] bought it’

Regardless of whether or not you’ve achieved immaterial enlightenment or are neck deep in the current iteration of the social-media-fueled consumerist frenzy, it’s more than likely that you possess things that are your favorite. Chances are these items have some sort of sentimental value—a keepsake from a loved one or photographs that are irreplaceable despite having no measurable value. They may have some monetary value, too, regardless of whether or not you’d ever want to sell them. Heck, maybe there’s an item that is your favorite simply because it’s comfortable: who hasn’t had a favorite t-shirt or sweatshirt? I lost my favorite grey baggy sweatshirt a little over a year ago. It fit quite unlike anything I’ve ever worn before, and I haven’t stopped missing it since. 

We’re also taught that as we value our own things, we should respect and value others. Usually, it’s our parents teaching us this lesson, but that doesn’t mean they’re infallible, sometimes giving away items of ours that they deem to be old or worn-out or that they don’t care for, like when my mother gave away my little plastic toolbox from when I was a small child that I had planned to pass on to my own children. 

That’s pretty much what this mother did when she gave away her daughter’s favorite t-shirt, sparking disagreement between the pair. Her daughter blew her top, and when she had cooled off a bit, she turned to this online community to share her story and see whether or not she was in the wrong for doing so.