The original post: /r/amitheasshole by /u/Upbeat_Recording4876 on 2024-04-27 17:46:57.

For context, I have always hated camping. Since I was a child this was a well documented fact and routinely the butt of family jokes. On the other hand, my mother loves to go camping/hiking/backpacking and has trips planned almost every other weekend until September.

She’s recently expressed that she wants camping to be something that we do together after I graduate from college in a week or so. Last summer, we went on a camping trip with extended family in which I borrowed a sleeping bag and mentioned that it was comfy. When asked if I would want one in case of future trips, I said that I by no means needed one but would be happy to have one if it went on sale or something to that effect.

What started as a sleeping bag has now become that, a blow-up mattress, a tent, a backpack including poop shovels, and various other things. Not only do I have now a bunch of camping gear but more recently I have received the news that this gear is in fact my graduation gift.

I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the sentiment nor that I don’t acknowledge the money that went in to getting those things, but every time my mother brings it up I can’t help but wish she had thought of something else. Not only does she know I don’t care for camping but as my mother who I am close with I feel overlooked and misjudged on the things I actually like. I’m graduating from film school and have always especially adored photography. When I was asked a while back if I had any ideas for graduation gifts, my first answer was a camera as I have never had one of my own. This is the only thing that I have consistently wanted (and expressed wanting) for several years.

Now my best friend has mentioned that their parents, who historically don’t gift well at all and aren’t the greatest in general, are giving her the camera which I have wanted for years. My mother knows this, and when I heard I expressed doubly that I would love to have something along those lines. I am the first in my family to have achieved a degree, and while I wasn’t even expecting any graduation gift in the first place, I do feel like the one that I’m being given is not one that is really for me - rather, it is something which my mom got for me so that she could guilt me into staying at home longer in order to camp with her as opposed to moving away for work.

Even then, those camping trips that I mentioned? The ones that she has planned through the next year? I’m not going on any of them. Instead, my mom has decided that I have PROMISED her (never did anything of the sort) that I will stay home for the year so that I can watch the house and pets while she goes off and does her soul searching. I’ve been told that to get a job and move away before they are done is inconveniencing her and causing her stress, so if I want to stay in her good graces I need to be her house sitter and wait to actually get a job until it’s convenient for her.

AITA for being upset about this?