A woman asking others for help on social media described a “nightmare” scenario involving her brother’s children — detailing why she won’t allow the kids to stay at her place again.
Over 5,500 reactions to date have come in, with over 1,500 comments posted on the personal drama as well.
Describing herself as 32 years old, the woman told others on the Reddit page known as “AITA” (“Am I the a–hole”) that she lives “in a nice, cozy home that I’ve worked really hard to maintain.”
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She said her brother, who is 34, has three kids, ages 10, 8 and 6 — and that “a few months ago, he ask[ed] if they could stay at my place for the weekends because he and his wife needed a break.”
The woman agreed, she said, “thinking it would be nice to bond with my nieces and nephew.”
That was a mistake, apparently.
The “weekend turned into a nightmare,” she wrote.
“The kids went absolutely wild. 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.”
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The woman said she “tried to manage the situation, but whenever I told them to stop or tried to set boundaries, they completely ignored me.”
“He didn’t offer to help clean up or replace anything.”
When she later reported the “damage” to her brother, she said he “just laughed it off and said, ‘Kids will be kids.’ He didn’t offer to help clean up or replace anything.”
The woman described herself as “really hurt, but [I] didn’t make a big deal out of it at the time,” she shared with others.
So — “fast-forward to now, [and] he’s asking if the kids can stay over again because they want to go on another weekend trip.”
The woman said she “told him no, explaining what happened last time and that I don’t want to deal with that again.”
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At that, “he got really upset, saying I’m punishing his kids for being kids and that I’m being unfair.”
Now, her “parents are involved,” she wrote, “saying I should ‘be the bigger person’ and help out my brother. They say the kids are sorry and just want to spend time with their aunt. But I’m still traumatized by the last time they were here.”
“They do not live in your home. You have no obligation.”
The woman asked others if she was wrong “for refusing to let them stay at my house again.”
In the top “upvoted” response on the platform, a user wrote, “This is utterly ridiculous. You are not these children’s parent, and they do not live in your home. You have no obligation to care for them except in an emergency.”
The person also said, “It’s perfectly reasonable and acceptable to say that you can’t handle having them in your home, particularly given your previous experience.”
The same person also suggested, “Why don’t your parents take in their grandchildren for the weekend?”
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Or, “if you do want to help out, you could stay at your brother’s place for the weekend,” the same user wrote.
“Why don’t your parents take in their grandchildren for the weekend?”
“That way, the kids are at home and can scribble on their own walls if they so choose. Also, your brother could pay you for doing this.”
Another user on the platform responded to that reply, writing, “That last paragraph is a genius remedy.”
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Still another person on the platform wrote, “Kids are kids but not destructors. He and his wife probably need a break because they can’t control their own kids.”
Fox News Digital reached out to a psychologist for insights.
On the issue of family members watching the children of others within their family unit, etiquette expert Lizzie Post, co-president at the Emily Post Institute and co-author of “Emily Post’s Etiquette, The Centennial Edition,” told the Scary Mommy website recently that people should not assume that “anyone with experience watching kids is available or willing to spend their time caring for your children.”
She added that as much as people may want to think that grandparents, aunts, uncles, older cousins and siblings will help out with child care, “it’s asking a lot.”
The piece also noted that “every child care arrangement is nuanced and worth discussing.”
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