Featured Image Credit: TLC
Topics: Parenting, Sex and Relationships, TV And Film
Emily Brown
Lots of 10 year olds wonder who their future husband might be, but it's not often that parents will get involved to help them with their search.
But before her daughter Mary got too carried away with dreams of marrying pop singers or movie stars, mum Lee Ann decided to organise a birthday party which would give her the opportunity to meet some more eligible potential partners.
See how it went down below:
Starring in TLC's Gypsy Brides US, Lee Ann is a member of the Romanichal traveller community keen to have her daughter grow up the same way.
Unfortunately Mary's dad didn't quite agree, and wanted their daughter to grow up to become a writer rather than 'clean and have children and take care of them'.
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With her 10th birthday coming up, Lee Ann decided to take control with a party which she admitted her husband wouldn't be happy about.
"I need to talk to Joe about the party. Most likely it's going to end up being a fight," she said.
Forget princess, party hats and pin the tail on the donkey - this party was going to allow Mary to 'meet future husbands' and give the boys' families chance to 'look at' the young girl, Lee Ann said.
Given that Mary would be the star of the show at her own party, Joe admitted they can 'look at her all they want' - but nothing more.
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"She's 10 years old," he pointed out, before asking Mary whether she was 'going to get married when [she's] 16'.
The young girl responded to say 'maybe', but Joe made clear he wasn't happy about it as he told her he still had six years to 'talk [her] out of trying to get married'.
"You're going to have to talk me out of it too," Lee Ann responded.
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The mum argued that their daughter had to 'carry on the tradition', claiming that if she waited until after she was 18 years old to get married she was 'not going to be wanted anymore'.
The controversial comment was enough to make Joe argue that his daughter was 'not a piece of meat', leaving Lee Ann in tears. Meanwhile, Mary admitted it made her 'upset' to see her parents fighting over their desires for her, saying she wished she could 'please everyone'.
Many Romanichal travellers live in England, though some have emigrated to other parts of the English-speaking world, resulting in communities overseas like that Lee Ann is part of.