Truly support
independent journalism
Our mission is to provide unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds the powerful to account and exposes the truth.
Whether it's $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us in offering journalism without agenda.
A woman has been defended online for refusing to babysit her brother's children after they “trashed” her home.
In a viral post shared on the Reddit forum “Am I the I**hole,” a 32-year-old woman questioned whether she was wrong for refusing to babysit her niece and nephews after they made a mess of her “nice cozy home” that she had “worked so hard to maintain.”
The woman explained in the post, which has more than 6,000 upvotes, that her 34-year-old brother has three children, ages 10, 8 and 6. “A few months ago, he asked me if they could stay at my house on the weekends because he and his wife needed a break,” she said. “I agreed, thinking it would be nice to bond with my nieces and nephew.”
However, she shared that the weekend “turned into a nightmare.”
“The kids went completely crazy. They broke several things, including a vase that was a gift from my late grandmother, spilled juice on my white couch, and even scribbled on the walls with markers,” the woman said. “I tried to control the situation, but every time I told them to stop or tried to set boundaries, they completely ignored me.”
When she told her brother about the damage, he “laughed it off” and told his sister that “kids are kids.” The Reddit user explained that her brother didn’t offer to help her clean up her house or replace any of the broken items, adding that she was “really hurt but didn’t think much of it at the time.”
Recently, her brother asked again if his children could stay at her house for the weekend. The woman said no, explaining that she did not want to “deal” with the disaster again.
“She got really angry and said I was punishing her kids for being kids and that I was being unfair,” she wrote. “Now my parents are involved and they say I should be a bigger person and help my brother. They say the kids are sorry and just want to spend time with their aunt. But I’m still traumatized from the last time they were here.”
The woman took to Reddit to ask if she was wrong “for refusing to let them stay in my house again,” but was immediately defended in the comments section.
“This is totally ridiculous,” read the top comment below the post. “You are not the parent of these children and they do not live in your home. You have no obligation to care for them except in an emergency. It is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to say that you cannot stand having them in your home, particularly given your previous experience.”
The commenter suggested that her brother should pay her to babysit his children and that she could stay at her brother's house over the weekend so the kids “can be home and write on their own walls if they want to.”
“No wonder the parents need a break. They created this mess and are stuck in it,” said another person. “Worse, they have just as much right as the kids because they refused to fix what was damaged.”
When several users questioned why her parents didn’t offer to babysit her brother’s kids over the weekend, the woman explained in the comments section that it is “frustrating that the responsibility falls entirely on me, and the lack of responsibility from my brother and parents only adds to the stress.”
She continued: “It’s clear that they are not prepared to face the consequences of their actions. It’s hard to be in this situation, having to set boundaries for both children and parents, but I think it’s important to stand firm and show that there are real consequences when boundaries are not respected.”
