Earlier today, I (21M) was driving my mom (39F) and my little brother (5M) to run some errands. My mom has this frustrating habit when I’m driving—she doesn’t give clear directions. Instead of saying “turn left” or “go straight,” she’ll point or vaguely say “that way.” It’s stressful because I’m trying to focus on the road and figure out where she means.
Today, she did the same thing, and I ended up taking a wrong turn. She got upset and started yelling at me, saying I wasn’t paying attention. I told her, “I can’t read your mind; just tell me where to go.” She didn’t take that well and kept yelling.
Then, completely out of nowhere, she slapped me on the back of my head while I was driving. I was furious—not just because of the slap but because it made me momentarily lose focus and almost swerve. It felt incredibly unsafe and disrespectful. I immediately pulled over and told her to get out of the car. I’ll admit, I was angry and probably raised my voice, but my main concern was that she slapped me while I was driving, endangering everyone in the car.
She started yelling even more, saying I had no right to kick her out. Then, to my surprise, she took my little brother out of the back seat with her. That made me feel awful because I didn’t want him to get caught up in this. After about five minutes, I calmed down and drove back to pick them up. The rest of the ride home was silent.
Now that we’re back home, she’s clearly upset and thinks I overreacted. I’m starting to second-guess myself—maybe I did go too far—but at the same time, I feel like slapping me while I was driving was completely out of line and unsafe.
So, Reddit, AITA?
