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The internet has backed a nurse practitioner for embarrassing his parents during Christmas dinner after they shamed him and his fiancée for living together before getting married, which for them means "living in sin."
In a post shared on Reddit in December under the username u/SupermarketFair3341, he explained that while he and his fiancée, who is currently completing her residency, are supposed to get married in June, his "super religious" parents can't let go of the fact that they already live together and bring it up every time they visit.
According to the United States Census Bureau, among young adults the act of cohabitation is now more prevalent than living with a spouse.
The research shows that among those aged 18-24, about 9 percent lived with an unmarried partner in 2018, compared to 7 percent who live with a spouse.

During Christmas dinner, to which the entire family was invited, his mom brought this up again, saying how glad she was that they're finally getting married and that she won't be embarrassed at church anymore. But this time the poster had enough, and decided to hit back at them, with much stronger allegations.
"My fiancée was getting embarrassed and I was getting mad over this stupid argument we have had too many times. And a family dinner was the last straw. So I started talking about a premature baby I had been reading about. It was almost three months premature and weighed about 1.6 pounds. It was super strong and healthy for being born so little and the NICU had high hopes for the baby doing well.
"So I asked about my oldest brother. He was born almost four months premature. Is there a chance that we could check out the family album where we keep all the records of family births and stuff. I already know my brother was over nine pounds and almost 23" long when he was born. My grandmother told me all about it the first time my parents tried to shame me."
According to the poster, the subject got changed very fast, and after dinner, his parents told him off for embarrassing them with "private things" that are not his concern, and he answered that his living arrangements are also one of their business.
The poster added: "I told them that if I heard anything about my living arrangements ever again for the rest of my life I would make sure to keep bringing up the FACT that my mom was in her second trimester when they got married."
Yasmine Saad, licensed clinical psychologist, founder, and CEO of Madison Park Psychological Services, told Newsweek that the dilemma is how to change the parents' behavior.
She said: "The parents use shaming others to push them to align with their values and change their behavior, but as you can see it is not working. The son resorted to the same shaming to stop the parents' comments. It is common to escalate the intensity of emotions or make others feel bad for them to stop pushing. However, more people get hurt.
"Was his mom being a hypocrite? Parents want to teach lessons they learned. Moral values come from trying to protect from certain dangers. It is very common that someone goes through something that doesn't align with their moral values, which reinforces the need for stronger moral values therefore the insistence of them onto others. It is usually tendencies in us that we disapprove of that we criticize others of. So the mom can uphold values she hadn't abide by."
According to Saad, the lack of recognition of the fact that she herself has not abided by them is the issue: "If she would have said, this happen to me therefore I believe even more in ... it would not have been hypocritical."
The post quickly went viral on the platform, and it has received over 54,800 upvotes and 3,200 comments so far.
One user, SecretJealous4342, commented: "[Not The A******]. That was beautifully handled. You didn't call them out and embarrass them. But you stood your ground. I did laugh out loud when you said where you got your blackmail information. Grandma had that in her pocket for a long time I'm guessing. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Merry Christmas and I hope you have a great New Year."
ScammerC said: "[Not The A******]. My Grammy used to say, 'The first baby (after marriage) can come anytime, the second one always takes nine months.' Next time they give you guys grief, discuss how comfortable the back seat of your dad's old car was."
And Top-Put2038 added: "I was absolutely lost when you said his size and weight at four months premature. Then I had a ding, ding, ding, shining light on the road to Damascus moment and very much laughed as I realized what you'd done. Well played, well played indeed. [Not Te A******]"
Newsweek reached out to u/SupermarketFair3341 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
If you have a similar family dilemma, let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
About the writer
Maria Azzurra Volpe is a Newsweek Life & Trends reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is reporting on everyday ... Read more