The dad asked if he was wrong for refusing to order for his daughter and \u2018letting her be hungry.\u2019<\/p>\n
In an online post<\/a>, the dad explained that his daughter is 15 years old and has social anxiety. She is in counseling for it, but they don\u2019t give her medications, as he stated they\u2019re not necessary.<\/p>\n Recently, the teen\u2019s counselor advised her to start doing low-risk tasks on her own, like ordering food, to tackle her social anxiety. So, when the dad went out with his daughter to run errands, and the teen asked to stop at Wendy’s, he saw the perfect opportunity for her to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n As he doesn’t allow eating in his car, the dad pulled into the Wendy’s parking lot and told his daughter to go inside and order while he grabbed a table.\u201cShe comes back a few minutes later and tells me she can’t order,\u201d the dad wrote. \u201cShe doesn’t want to talk to the cashier at the front of the store. I told her she needs to order, and we will head out. She asked me to order, and I told her no.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI also ran through a script with her at the table, but she wouldn’t do it,\u201d he added. \u201cWe sit for about 10 minutes when I tell her it’s time to go.\u201d Rather than enabling his daughter\u2019s anxiety, the dad stood his ground and gave her the opportunity to overcome her fear. When she refused, he let the experience serve as a lesson.<\/p>\n RELATED: 7 Things That Seem Weird \u2014 But Are Totally Normal For Someone With Social Anxiety<\/a><\/p>\n The teen and her mom were upset at the dad, claiming he let the girl \u2018go hungry.\u2019<\/p>\n While many parents would likely struggle to resist the urge to help their child order food, the dad made a valid point in allowing the teenager to fight this battle on her own. The bottom line is she needs to learn to withstand situations that make her uncomfortable because her dad won’t always be there to step in.<\/p>\n She may feel angry with her dad for refusing to help her in a moment of fear, but she\u2019ll likely never forget this experience, and it might offer her the strength to overcome this fear next time. People online empathized with the teen, as social anxiety can be a challenging experience<\/a>, and she was brave to at least try and get out of her comfort zone, but they agreed with the dad\u2019s persistence in encouraging her to order for herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen the outcome when a kid with anxiety who is not self-motivated to improve is enabled by a parent\u2019s \u2018help,\u2019 and it looks like a 35-year-old adult who can\u2019t even do their own groceries,\u201d one person commented on the post. \u201cShe is old enough that she needs to learn to do things herself, and ordering fast food is a low-stakes way for her to learn that if she doesn\u2019t [do] it herself, it won\u2019t get done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNext time, I’d recommend you go with her,\u201d another person, in addition to many others, suggested. \u201cShe still has to order for herself, but you can be next to her as a supporting figure. I have social anxiety (and I’m autistic), and I also had a lot of trouble ordering food.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"nervous](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/desensitizing-dad-lets-socially-anxious-teen-daughter-go-hungry.png\" "\\"dad")
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