It’s a massive help for parents when they have close family members who willingly help them babysit their kids for free. However, it can happen that slowly, their demands keep increasing and they start taking their family for granted.
That’s what happened with the original poster’s (OP) sister who demanded that she babysit her kids for a whole week while she went vacationing with her husband. Although it was asking a lot from the poster, all hell broke loose when she refused to do it and sparked drama!
More info: Reddit
Family often take each other for granted and demand things without even considering the other person
Image credits: Timur Weber / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The 29-year-old poster doesn’t have kids, but she has three nephews she often babysits as her sister and brother-in-law are busy people
Image credits: anonymous
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
One day, her sister said that she and her husband were going on vacation for a week and demanded that the poster babysit her kids during that time
Image credits: anonymous
Image credits: cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The poster would have to take leave and reschedule everything, so she flat out refused to babysit the kids, but this just drew ire from her sister
Image credits: anonymous
Even her mom got involved in it, playing the “family card” by asking her to “step up” and help her sister, so the poster sought advice online
Today’s story is about a family drama that impacted the 29-year-old poster so much that she had to vent online. She tells us she doesn’t have kids but she often babysits her three nephews since her sister and brother-in-law are busy people. While she loves doing this once in a while, things escalated when the couple asked her for a big favor.
They wanted to go on vacation to a resort, so they expected her to babysit their kids for a whole week! Her sister said that this would give her an opportunity to spend quality time with her nephews who were apparently “independent.” To be honest, the 8-year-old might be, but how can the 6-year-old and 3-year-old be independent?
The thing is, OP works full-time and she doesn’t even have a partner who could help her look after the kids. If she said yes, she would have to take leave and change her whole schedule, which was, frankly, asking a lot from her at such short notice. Of course, she declined politely but that infuriated her sister.
The lady pulled the “family card” and even accused OP of being selfish. On top of it, even their mother got involved, demanding that the poster “step up” and do it as it was just one week. However, despite all this pressure, the poster stayed firm in her decision, although she started receiving unsolicited advice from other family members that she was overreacting.
Her mom also kept guilt-tripping her about the whole situation, so feeling guilty about whether she did the right thing or not, she sought advice from netizens.
Image credits: Liza Summer / Pexels (not the actual photo)
It has been observed that the babysitting rate in the USA in 2024 ranged between $10-$30 per hour, and on average, babysitters are paid around $15.48 per hour. The sister should be grateful that she gets a free babysitter whenever she needs it; instead, she started taking the poster for granted.
Research states that expecting other people to do things for them and not showing gratitude are clear signs of an entitled person. According to BetterHelp, “When someone with a sense of entitlement doesn’t get what they want, they may lash out at others in anger or frustration.”
Now, that sounds exactly like the poster’s sister, doesn’t it? Folks online also pointed out that the sister was steeped in entitlement to make such outrageous demands from the poster all because she doesn’t have her own kids to worry about. They said that the lady was very inconsiderate of OP’s personal life and it was good that the poster stayed firm.
Many also lashed out against the grandma for trying to guilt-trip the poster into submission. They commented that if family was so important, then the grandma should do the babysitting herself rather than shove it all on OP. Some also pointed out that the kids being “independent” sounded quite absurd as 6 and 3 are ages that require a lot of attention from adults.
Even we agree with the Redditors that it was an unreasonable demand that the family was expecting from the poster. If you were in her shoes, how would you handle the situation? Let us know in the comments below!
Folks said that she was not wrong for saying no and even said that the grandma could do it herself since she was pushing the poster into it
