AIO for accusing my father of weaponized incompetence?
My 2 year old son and I live with my father. My father is really great in a lot of ways, but it seems almost impossible to communicate with him.
Today, I asked my dad if he wanted to take my son to an indoor playground. I've been sick and unable to get enough rest to recover. Dad said yes, but it ended up taking them 90 minutes to get ready, and at that point, I noted that it was the time that my kid normally winds down for his nap.
My dad was annoyed, and my kid wanted to go. My dad agreed to go somewhere closer, with food, and have them get lunch as well. I figured my kid would fall asleep on the way home, and said ok.
When they got home, it was 15 minutes into naptime. My dad announced when they walked in that my son probably would've fallen asleep in the car if he'd kept driving. At that moment, I thought my head might explode. I asked why he stopped driving as calmly as I could, and he was annoyed again, and put my son back in the car.
My son ended up missing his nap today. He has a thing about being woken up on the way to sleep. My dad and I have discussed this many times, but he seemingly needs to be reminded every time it comes up.
After my son went to sleep tonight, I talked to my dad about this. He said he would've kept driving, but he knew I was worried about my son being out of the house. He was really convinced that this was my concern. I had said nothing about them being physically out of the house. I had mentioned naptime.
I don't know what to do with someone who needed to come home to be told that a kid falling asleep at naptime is more important than the kid being at home. I feel like my dad must have a really negative opinion of me to assume that I'd be worried about keeping my son physically at home for literally no reason.
My dad knows my son's naptime. It comes up often.
This kind of thing happens almost every day, and it's the reason I can't rest...and have had the same sinus infection for a month. It often happens most often when I don't need help and haven't asked for any, and he comes in to "help" by changing everything going on.
My dad's story is that I just nag at him all the time for no reason. I tell him that I'm trying to make him aware of it when he makes a mistake, because he can't tell on his own. At this point, the conversation usually derails for a while...he tries to tell me he's not the bad guy, and I try to remind him that all humans make mistakes. No matter how many times we have this conversation, mistakes are still really emotional for him. I have never seen him catch a mistake he's made in caring for my son himself. I always have to tell him, and he's usually upset with me for doing so.
AIO for accusing my dad of weaponized incompetence? I just don't see how it's possible to interpret someone worried about their kid getting a nap as someone worried about their kid being physically at home.
Posted Feb 17, 2026, 3:19 AM UTC