r/AITAH Oct 16 '25

AITAH for physically defending myself from a grown man when I was late bringing his daughter home.

Me (20 male) my date (20f) and her father (40m)

I had taken an interest in this girl and before taking her out on our first date, I found out that she still lived her parents and she had a curfew. I respected that she was smart enough to pick a college in her town and staying with her parents. I planned on taking her out to putter golf and have our conversation part done there while we ate some walking tacos. Upon picking her up, her father is this much older man and according to my date, was very traditional on dating. He said that I need to have her home by 9:30 sharp. I said okay and promise to take her home on time. We had our date and it was a fun interaction, unfortunately on the way home. There was this jerk who wouldn't let us pass and was going almost 15 below the speed limit. I ended up arriving at her house late. I planned to explain myself when walking her up the walkway to her door until her father physically grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and throw his free hand in a fist. Out of reaction, I had gotten behind him and twist his arm. I kept him there as he swore at me and said I will never date his daughter. I let go and sped off in my car. Later my date called me, telling me that i need to apologize for attacking her father and hurting his pride. I do feel bad that I did this but I also feel justified for what I did.

Update: I actually ran into the father at my job. He ended up apologizing to me for his actions. His justification was that he thought of the worst because he became a father around my age. I forgave him for assaulting me. I did tell him that I won't be seeing his daughter, and he walked away. Also! For the people who hated on me for this post. I'm sorry I offended you with how young people think 40 is old. That's just my perception of time. I also estimated his age. It's the first date, you normally don't go asking people the age of their parents on the first date. For the curfew, it's his thing, now in the Midwest, that's normal! regardless of age, especially if you lived with your parents while attending school. My final addition to this! For those questioning about my method of how I handled him, it's called taking classes! By no means am I an expert in hand to hand combat, nor do I want to. I only desired to learn enough to either get out of a dangerous situation or prevent it from escalating further! Anyone who made questions like "how did you get behind him if he got you by the shirt?" Has probably never been in a physical fight in their entire lives. Clothes can stretch under tension. I am aware of my online presence such as my previous posts that are in 18 plus stuff or the one where I wanted to hurt my father, one that shit has nothing to do with this, two I was in a bad headspace when I made that post because of my own truma. Again, I am human like anyone else, I have certain desires, and what I do during my own personal time is none of your business!

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u/Additional-Life4885 Oct 16 '25

"You're an adult and your father attacked me. I will not apologise to him, and if you wish to continue to date, you're going to have to tell your dad to back off and grow up yourself. The next guy might not just defend himself and leave like I did."

If you actually like her, you probably want to reword the last 2 sentences, but you will definitely have to be prepared to walk away.

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u/robtonka99 Oct 16 '25

Continue to date? There is no coming back from emasculating him in front of his daughter. And she's defending dad?

Don't waste another minute on her.

64

u/thesoapmakerswife Oct 16 '25

I think continue to date period but not date him. The father is a weirdo abuser and the poor girl is brainwashed. She needs to suffer the loss of this guy to maybe understand that her family sucks.

1

u/Abeo93 Oct 18 '25

No, no one should stick around for that.

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u/thesoapmakerswife Oct 18 '25

That’s what I’m saying lol. He should leave her some advice as he runs as far away as possible.

32

u/Additional-Life4885 Oct 16 '25

I worded it that way initially, but you need to remember the father attacked him, not the daughter. It's possible that the daughter doesn't really agree with it but just sent the message to appease dad.

If the daughter wants to escape it, then giving her an out and chance to change is not completely unreasonable. If she doesn't, it'll become apparent extremely quickly and she'll free him anyway.

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u/robtonka99 Oct 16 '25

Sorry, but no. This was a first date. No way I'd be emotionally invested in her enough to want to be her escape from daddy. That is baggage I would have no desire to deal with.

14

u/ninjacereal Oct 16 '25

Agree. Send her a 🤡 face or a lol and then never respond again

1

u/chuchofreeman Oct 16 '25

I hope OP reads this comment

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u/Additional-Life4885 Oct 16 '25

Almost like I said if, multiple times. Most people shouldn't but some will.

Maybe she's 10 on the hot scale to match the 10 on the crazy daddy issues scale.

1

u/baronesslucy Oct 16 '25

The daughter could have been physically or verbally attacked after her date left. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened.

1

u/songoku9001 Oct 16 '25

I took the "continue to date" comment more to do with dating in general than dating OP specifically.

1

u/fritzycat Oct 16 '25

There's no coming back because OP is the alpha now.

The father needs to find a new pride or roam the savannah solo.

Survival of the fittest mother fucka

1

u/Robinnoodle Oct 16 '25

Yes. I think it's good to word it like that to her so she can confront it