Man Buys A Bakery’s Last Cake For His Pregnant Wife, Kid Throws A Tantrum Because She Wanted It
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. And apparently, if you’re the last visitor into a bakery before closing time, you can’t expect there to be any cake left at all!
Below, you’ll find a story that was recently shared on the “Am I the [Jerk]?” subreddit, detailing how one man had to deal with a child’s temper tantrum in a bakery just to bring home some cake to his pregnant wife.
When pregnancy cravings strike, moms-to-be can feel like they desperately need a specific item
Image credits: furkanfdemir (not the actual photo)
But when this man stopped to pick up some cake for his wife, he had no idea how dramatic his visit to the bakery would become
Image credits: Ryutaro Tsukata (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Matilda Wormwood (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Unhappy-Tutor-4131
Later, the man responded to some readers and provided additional context
The vast majority of pregnant women experience intense cravings
Image credits: Ivan Samkov (not the actual photo)
Everyone enjoys a fresh slice of cake from a bakery, whether they’re craving it or not. But when you’re pregnant and the desire to eat a certain food strikes, it can be almost impossible to ignore those cravings. For my mother, it was Taco Bell tostadas, apparently she couldn’t get enough. But while every mom’s preferences are different, the vast majority will experience the notorious pregnancy cravings.
According to UPMC, a whopping 90% of women who are with child will experience intense food cravings. These are most likely to occur during the first and second trimesters and are seen as relatively harmless, as long as mothers don’t over eat or indulge excessively in unhealthy foods.
The Bump reports that no one can say exactly why these cravings occur, but they’re likely due to hormonal changes and perhaps nutritional deficits. As far as what pregnant women crave the most, sweets and starchy carbohydrates like bread and pasta seem to be the most common culprits. But many women also crave spicy food, salty foods like chips, fruit and fruit juice, milk and other dairy products, pickles, fast food, pizza and ice.
Just because a child throws a tantrum doesn’t mean they should get whatever they want
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
While moms don’t technically have to give into their cravings and children tend to love cake just as much as pregnant women, that doesn’t mean kids should be given whatever they want just because they demand it. It can sometimes feel easier to give in to a screaming child’s demands than to deal with them, but according to the NHS in the UK, this can backfire.
They recommend getting to the bottom of your child’s anger, finding a distraction, and waiting for the tantrum to stop, but never changing your mind just because your child got upset. This can teach them that they’ll get rewarded for throwing a fit and might make these outbursts more common.
Child psychologist Michele Borba also says parents should be careful not to raise spoiled children who always get whatever they want. Borba told CNBC some signs of a spoiled kid are one who can’t take “no” for an answer, who’s more into receiving than giving, who demands things immediately, who only thinks about themself and who is never satisfied with what they have.
To avoid growing up entitled and spoiled, it’s important for kids to hear the word “no”
Image credits: August de Richelieu (not the actual photo)
To avoid teaching little ones to be entitled brats, Borba recommends parents say “no” without feeling any guilt. Simply explain why the answer is no, for example, “This man was here first, so the cake is his.” And move on. It can also be helpful to praise your children when they are doing the right thing, such as complimenting them for being generous towards a friend.
Parents can encourage their children to be more appreciative of what they have by taking time to show gratitude and by teaching them delayed gratification. Kids don’t naturally know how to be patient. But if they learn how to wait for their parents to finish speaking before sharing their own thoughts or how to save up their allowance for months before making a purchase, they will learn patience.
Borba says moms and dads should also point out to their children when they’re being insensitive to help them correct that behavior. Help them consider other perspectives by asking how they think their friends feel when they act selfishly.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this story in the comments below, pandas. Do you think this man was wrong for purchasing the cake? Feel free to share, and then if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article discussing an entitled parent, look no further than right here.
Many readers assured the man that the cake was rightfully his
"What if the little girl was maybe neurodivergent?" Well, then the parent would know better than to go last-minute-shopping for essentials.
and speaking as autistic myself, just being autistic doesn't mean you get what you want at all times. You still need to learn the meaning of the word "no" >.>
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To be fair, the OP now has the perfect opportunity for anything he forgets to buy, or can’t be bothered to go to the shops for - “A badly-raised child shouted until I let them have it instead.”
The child and her mother come into the store at closing and expect another customer to not have what they ordered? Heck no. And shame on OPs wife for undermining her husband's decision, you say thank you and eat your cake. Children do not get just because they will cry. That is how we get entitled adults who think the same way. Life is tough, deal.
That was such a good teaching moment the mother missed out on. The kids who get everything they want because of tantrums turn into really unpleasant adults who treat anyone who doesn't give them what they want ((even if they haven't specifically asked for exactly that) like the enemy. There's a post trending right now where the hosts of a hen party asked everyone to wear black. Not "all black." They just said "wear black." So someone wore a black dress with flowers. I'd have likely done the same, because they didn't specify solid black. And people are acting like she urinated on the wedding cake, no empathy for the fact that she'd honestly misunderstood. I'll bet anything those are the same folks who, 20 years ago, screamed because they didn't get the last Swiss roll and their parents backed up their stance rather than teaching them to not have tantrums in bakeries.
Load More Replies... NTA...the pregnant wife at home doesn't even matter. Why would your cravings or your wife's be less valued than some stranger's kid? F**k their entitlement. Sometimes it's bad luck or bad timing and stores are allowed to have a limited number of items
The only person I'd give up a Swiss roll to is a starving person on the street. I'd feel bad to leave them starving. But a pregnant person or a screaming kid... sorry, find something else.
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I do take these stories with a grain of salt, but so many of them seem to involve people thinking that they are entitled to things because they have children or that the world should just bow to their children and give them whatever they want. Where did this come from? Why do people think the world is going to revolve around their children? The person who bought the cake had every right to that cake. They were there first.
I worked retail through university. Yes, these things happen. Ever been behind a McDonald's counter when you've run out of nuggets? And this was long before Covid, so there were no plexiglass barriers to protect us from whatever someone threw.
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It's never too early to teach a child how to deal with disappointment.
My nephew threw a few crying fits as a little kid. My sister shrugged it off and let him cry it out. It didn't change the situation, but he got to vent and then move on. It never lasted long and he'd be back to his cheery self.
Load More Replies... Wtf??? OP needs to lay down some child rearing boundaries with his wife before they raise a little monster like the girl in the shop. Never, EVER do I buy my kids a freaking CAKE unless it's a damn holiday. And guess what? They have NEVER asked or thrown a tantrum over not having one. If they ever did ask, I tell them cakes are for birthdays, why don't they go look through the cake catalogue and they can start imagining what cake they want to order. (Usually only go to supermarket bakeries) The entitlement is abhorrent all around here. The pregnant wife gets miffed over this? "Just thinking if it was our child and how sad they would be." You can't go around granting children's every whim and fancy because in very short time, they will demand, expect, and raise hell for every single toy and sugar they want. Complete nonsense. Poor man. Standing up for his wife only to get belittled for it. Damn Shame. Mother is a*****e. Kid is a*****e. Wife is a*****e. Man is NOT a*****e but still questioning himself. Isn't that how it always goes?
Yes! It's really best for the kid to not have gotten it. Children who get everything they want, particularly from a tantrum, are and grow up to be a******s.
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I'd have bought all the Swiss rolls. The only thing I hate more than xenophobes are entitled jerks.
I was thinking the same thing. Glad someone else said it.
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Yikes. The red flag here is how the wife said "when we have a kid & our kid does this, won't we act differently" girl... no. You're not entitled to things just because you have a kid & they throw a tantrum. First come. First serve. Glad dad shut that down.
I'm also so over reading about spoilt, demanding kids with their helicopter parents making demands on other people. No means no. Parents, stop doing this - they will expect that throwing a tantrum will get them whatever they want for the rest of their lives, and reality does NOT work that way.
Dude wasn't an AH. It wasn't the mum's business why he bought the cake. Children deserve respect, of course, but they must also learn respect for others. It was an opportunity for the mum to teach her child that you don't always get what you want, that other people have as much a right to things as you do, and first come, first serve. I wouldn't have eaten cake for a month if I'd ever have thrown a tantrum in a bakery (or even gotten to go anywhere except to school and church). Granted, I think my parents were overly strict with me, but at some point, children need to learn empathy and emotional control. You don't always get what you want. That's life. Now, I'm also a person who, if I really wanted a Swiss roll, probably wouldn't have given it up for a pregnant woman with cravings if I'd already ordered it either. Maybe to an unhoused person who is starving, but mum-to-be can hit the market.
Dealing with the entitled adults they become is... unpleasant at best.
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NTA no one is ever the a*****e for standing up against entitled children becoming even mor spoiled
I feel as if I read an article in another language, one I’m not familiar with. Someone please help me with “chook” and “JADE”? I’m pretty good at working out acronyms in context, but I’m lost with this one. Thanks! (And I hope this man never asks anyone to bring him “sweet breads” when he wants pastries, or he’s gonna be in for a VERY rude (and maybe gross, to him) awakening!) (Do others here use “sweetbreads” when you mean “pastries”? How has it gone for you?)
Chook is Aussie for chicken. JADE is "Justify, argue, defend, explain." And yes, in this context, sweet breads means breads leavened with baking powder and made sweet and flavourful, like a muffin in bread form. Or scones. Things like that. They do not mean what our grandmothers meant.
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Fist come to second served who won't take no for an answer
Load More Replies... NTA, even if OP was the one ordering the cake for themselves. The kid has learned a lesson that sometimes, you don't get what you want, and that you can't expect everyone to give in to you. The mother however is the AH here, with her demanding attitude, she's only going to raise her daughter to be the same kind of selfish self entitled b!tch as she is. And come the time that daughter becomes a teenager, mother is going to really regret raising her that way >.>
Your wife's response is the shape of things to come. She'll always pull the devil's advocate on everything you do.
David Attenborough voice: Ah yes, here we can observe the classic Reddit behaviour of "deciding that a person's entire character is inherently evil based on a minor interaction" in the wild.
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Oh, give me a break with all the Autism & Neurodivergent bullsh*t. She is obviously just another entitled spoiled brat - otherwise the Mom would have said something. Nope. NTA and you were correct in the fact that it's for your pregnant wife is none of her damn business. Maybe princess needed a little reality check - that you don't always get what you want (especially from strangers!) and that NO is a word you're going to hear A LOT when you grow up.
I have sometimes thought that when a kid throws a tantrum, it is because he/she has learnt that it works.
The part of this that stands out the most to me is that the Karen demanding and berating him was doing everything in her power to make that child a terrible person. And OPs wife AGREES with that... couldnt be a bigger red flag for how she'll raise her child and sounds like the world will be a worse place for it
It doesn't matter who he's buying it for. The choice is his as to whether or not to give it up. This is why there r so many self entitled people out there!
I'm confused as to why people even have to ask these questions. C'mon - you KNOW if you're the AH or not. OF COURSE you're not the AH, but you could have explained that you were getting the cake for your pregnant wife. I don't think you were the AH - maybe just really stupid. (Oh and the entitled little b*tch who was throwing a tantrum? She should have had leftovers thrown in her face).
Reading stuff like this just makes my blood boil. We have gone from a society where the parents are the most important relationship and the children come next, to a society where we think children should have whatever they want whenever they want it. We are really asking for trouble with this mindset, and our present society is showing it over and over again.
The kid just acted like a kid - yes, all of them scream and throw temper tantrum at times, that's part of the deal. As said above, it would have been the Mom's job to ask him, accept his answer, and help her child to deal with the frustration. Also, if he can go to the supermarket to get cake, so can Mom. If anything, I hope he learned a lesson how NOT to behave as a parent. Doesn't sound as if he were in danger of copying that mother, though. It's rather his wife one is worried about (but then, it might be just pregnancy hormones).
Oh, and I don’t know WHY ON EARTH people in this situation don’t say, “Hey: mom your kid before she grows into a harpy. Teach her PROPERLY. What you’re doing right now is teaching her to be an entitled 🫏🕳️ JUST LIKE YOU.” These s****y parents don’t know their horrendous behavior is horrendous, so help them (and the rest of society!) out by telling them the CORRECT behavior.
I would suggest sharing it, not because the kid is entitled to have it, but just because that's who I am. If I'm in a bakery with my kids and someone bought the last cake, I will say "That's life, let's check somewhere else or try tomorrow".
NTA but for any bored panda in the same predicament, I would have asked the store attendant to cut the roll in half. Swiss rolls are typically good for at least 6 to 8 slices so unless there are more than 1 or 2 people eating why not pay 1/2 each and share?
I would have done that IF and only IF the child had been polite and not thrown a tantrum. A tantrum should never be rewarded.
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"What if the little girl was maybe neurodivergent?" Well, then the parent would know better than to go last-minute-shopping for essentials.
and speaking as autistic myself, just being autistic doesn't mean you get what you want at all times. You still need to learn the meaning of the word "no" >.>
Load More Replies... To be fair, the OP now has the perfect opportunity for anything he forgets to buy, or can’t be bothered to go to the shops for - “A badly-raised child shouted until I let them have it instead.”
The child and her mother come into the store at closing and expect another customer to not have what they ordered? Heck no. And shame on OPs wife for undermining her husband's decision, you say thank you and eat your cake. Children do not get just because they will cry. That is how we get entitled adults who think the same way. Life is tough, deal.
That was such a good teaching moment the mother missed out on. The kids who get everything they want because of tantrums turn into really unpleasant adults who treat anyone who doesn't give them what they want ((even if they haven't specifically asked for exactly that) like the enemy. There's a post trending right now where the hosts of a hen party asked everyone to wear black. Not "all black." They just said "wear black." So someone wore a black dress with flowers. I'd have likely done the same, because they didn't specify solid black. And people are acting like she urinated on the wedding cake, no empathy for the fact that she'd honestly misunderstood. I'll bet anything those are the same folks who, 20 years ago, screamed because they didn't get the last Swiss roll and their parents backed up their stance rather than teaching them to not have tantrums in bakeries.
Load More Replies... NTA...the pregnant wife at home doesn't even matter. Why would your cravings or your wife's be less valued than some stranger's kid? F**k their entitlement. Sometimes it's bad luck or bad timing and stores are allowed to have a limited number of items
The only person I'd give up a Swiss roll to is a starving person on the street. I'd feel bad to leave them starving. But a pregnant person or a screaming kid... sorry, find something else.
Load More Replies... I do take these stories with a grain of salt, but so many of them seem to involve people thinking that they are entitled to things because they have children or that the world should just bow to their children and give them whatever they want. Where did this come from? Why do people think the world is going to revolve around their children? The person who bought the cake had every right to that cake. They were there first.
I worked retail through university. Yes, these things happen. Ever been behind a McDonald's counter when you've run out of nuggets? And this was long before Covid, so there were no plexiglass barriers to protect us from whatever someone threw.
Load More Replies... It's never too early to teach a child how to deal with disappointment.
My nephew threw a few crying fits as a little kid. My sister shrugged it off and let him cry it out. It didn't change the situation, but he got to vent and then move on. It never lasted long and he'd be back to his cheery self.
Load More Replies... Wtf??? OP needs to lay down some child rearing boundaries with his wife before they raise a little monster like the girl in the shop. Never, EVER do I buy my kids a freaking CAKE unless it's a damn holiday. And guess what? They have NEVER asked or thrown a tantrum over not having one. If they ever did ask, I tell them cakes are for birthdays, why don't they go look through the cake catalogue and they can start imagining what cake they want to order. (Usually only go to supermarket bakeries) The entitlement is abhorrent all around here. The pregnant wife gets miffed over this? "Just thinking if it was our child and how sad they would be." You can't go around granting children's every whim and fancy because in very short time, they will demand, expect, and raise hell for every single toy and sugar they want. Complete nonsense. Poor man. Standing up for his wife only to get belittled for it. Damn Shame. Mother is a*****e. Kid is a*****e. Wife is a*****e. Man is NOT a*****e but still questioning himself. Isn't that how it always goes?
Yes! It's really best for the kid to not have gotten it. Children who get everything they want, particularly from a tantrum, are and grow up to be a******s.
Load More Replies... I'd have bought all the Swiss rolls. The only thing I hate more than xenophobes are entitled jerks.
I was thinking the same thing. Glad someone else said it.
Load More Replies... Yikes. The red flag here is how the wife said "when we have a kid & our kid does this, won't we act differently" girl... no. You're not entitled to things just because you have a kid & they throw a tantrum. First come. First serve. Glad dad shut that down.
I'm also so over reading about spoilt, demanding kids with their helicopter parents making demands on other people. No means no. Parents, stop doing this - they will expect that throwing a tantrum will get them whatever they want for the rest of their lives, and reality does NOT work that way.
Dude wasn't an AH. It wasn't the mum's business why he bought the cake. Children deserve respect, of course, but they must also learn respect for others. It was an opportunity for the mum to teach her child that you don't always get what you want, that other people have as much a right to things as you do, and first come, first serve. I wouldn't have eaten cake for a month if I'd ever have thrown a tantrum in a bakery (or even gotten to go anywhere except to school and church). Granted, I think my parents were overly strict with me, but at some point, children need to learn empathy and emotional control. You don't always get what you want. That's life. Now, I'm also a person who, if I really wanted a Swiss roll, probably wouldn't have given it up for a pregnant woman with cravings if I'd already ordered it either. Maybe to an unhoused person who is starving, but mum-to-be can hit the market.
Dealing with the entitled adults they become is... unpleasant at best.
Load More Replies... NTA no one is ever the a*****e for standing up against entitled children becoming even mor spoiled
I feel as if I read an article in another language, one I’m not familiar with. Someone please help me with “chook” and “JADE”? I’m pretty good at working out acronyms in context, but I’m lost with this one. Thanks! (And I hope this man never asks anyone to bring him “sweet breads” when he wants pastries, or he’s gonna be in for a VERY rude (and maybe gross, to him) awakening!) (Do others here use “sweetbreads” when you mean “pastries”? How has it gone for you?)
Chook is Aussie for chicken. JADE is "Justify, argue, defend, explain." And yes, in this context, sweet breads means breads leavened with baking powder and made sweet and flavourful, like a muffin in bread form. Or scones. Things like that. They do not mean what our grandmothers meant.
Load More Replies... Fist come to second served who won't take no for an answer
Load More Replies... NTA, even if OP was the one ordering the cake for themselves. The kid has learned a lesson that sometimes, you don't get what you want, and that you can't expect everyone to give in to you. The mother however is the AH here, with her demanding attitude, she's only going to raise her daughter to be the same kind of selfish self entitled b!tch as she is. And come the time that daughter becomes a teenager, mother is going to really regret raising her that way >.>
Your wife's response is the shape of things to come. She'll always pull the devil's advocate on everything you do.
David Attenborough voice: Ah yes, here we can observe the classic Reddit behaviour of "deciding that a person's entire character is inherently evil based on a minor interaction" in the wild.
Load More Replies... Oh, give me a break with all the Autism & Neurodivergent bullsh*t. She is obviously just another entitled spoiled brat - otherwise the Mom would have said something. Nope. NTA and you were correct in the fact that it's for your pregnant wife is none of her damn business. Maybe princess needed a little reality check - that you don't always get what you want (especially from strangers!) and that NO is a word you're going to hear A LOT when you grow up.
I have sometimes thought that when a kid throws a tantrum, it is because he/she has learnt that it works.
The part of this that stands out the most to me is that the Karen demanding and berating him was doing everything in her power to make that child a terrible person. And OPs wife AGREES with that... couldnt be a bigger red flag for how she'll raise her child and sounds like the world will be a worse place for it
It doesn't matter who he's buying it for. The choice is his as to whether or not to give it up. This is why there r so many self entitled people out there!
I'm confused as to why people even have to ask these questions. C'mon - you KNOW if you're the AH or not. OF COURSE you're not the AH, but you could have explained that you were getting the cake for your pregnant wife. I don't think you were the AH - maybe just really stupid. (Oh and the entitled little b*tch who was throwing a tantrum? She should have had leftovers thrown in her face).
Reading stuff like this just makes my blood boil. We have gone from a society where the parents are the most important relationship and the children come next, to a society where we think children should have whatever they want whenever they want it. We are really asking for trouble with this mindset, and our present society is showing it over and over again.
The kid just acted like a kid - yes, all of them scream and throw temper tantrum at times, that's part of the deal. As said above, it would have been the Mom's job to ask him, accept his answer, and help her child to deal with the frustration. Also, if he can go to the supermarket to get cake, so can Mom. If anything, I hope he learned a lesson how NOT to behave as a parent. Doesn't sound as if he were in danger of copying that mother, though. It's rather his wife one is worried about (but then, it might be just pregnancy hormones).
Oh, and I don’t know WHY ON EARTH people in this situation don’t say, “Hey: mom your kid before she grows into a harpy. Teach her PROPERLY. What you’re doing right now is teaching her to be an entitled 🫏🕳️ JUST LIKE YOU.” These s****y parents don’t know their horrendous behavior is horrendous, so help them (and the rest of society!) out by telling them the CORRECT behavior.
I would suggest sharing it, not because the kid is entitled to have it, but just because that's who I am. If I'm in a bakery with my kids and someone bought the last cake, I will say "That's life, let's check somewhere else or try tomorrow".
NTA but for any bored panda in the same predicament, I would have asked the store attendant to cut the roll in half. Swiss rolls are typically good for at least 6 to 8 slices so unless there are more than 1 or 2 people eating why not pay 1/2 each and share?
I would have done that IF and only IF the child had been polite and not thrown a tantrum. A tantrum should never be rewarded.
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