Most of us will turn to our siblings for favours from time to time, and one thing that many parents need is help with childcare. It's always handy when your family members offer to help with looking after little ones if you have dinner plans or need to go into work last minute, as you won't need to hire a babysitter. But sometimes these requests can turn sour if they aren't keen on helping out.
One woman took to Reddit's 'Am I the a**hole' forum to explain that her younger sister, who is 18, refused to look after her son, causing a huge row between the pair. The 18-year-old explained that she 'had a lot of studying to do', but her older sister was not happy with her excuse, and claimed she 'never asked her' to look after her baby, so she couldn't understand why she wouldn't look after him just this once.
She explained: "I 24f have my own apartment. My fiancé is deployed and I have a one-year-old son. My younger sister Ella 18 lives with me. She pays no rent and goes to the nearby college. She has no job and I financially support her since she is in school. Our parents live three hours away so it was a better fit.
"I work five days a week, and my son is in daycare. I got called in on a Saturday (I'm off weekends and the daycare is closed at weekends) and I pleaded with my sister to watch my son.
"She refused and told me it was her weekend off from school and she had a lot of studying to do. I told her I really needed her to do this for me, I never ask her. She told me I should just find a sitter online. I told her no, you need to watch him, I take care of you and you can do this one thing for me, or you can go back and live with our parents.
"She got really upset and said I’m throwing what i do for her in her face, and how she's an adult and my son wasn't her kid. She did agree though and I went to work. While I was on break I checked my phone and had numerous texts from my parents saying I was abusing my power over my sister, and that my son wasn't her responsibility.
"I never ever ask my sister for help with the baby. She lives with me so she's able to go to the school she wanted to go to."
In the comments, many were quick to tell the woman that she'd not done anything wrong, and her sister should've helped her - especially knowing she didn't have the help of her fiancé.
One wrote: "No kidding, the original poster is really being taken advantage of by her sister and parents. Free rent aside...what sister is living with their one-year-old nephew and not already helping out?
"My family can be a s*** show at times but I can't imagine this situation ever happening. Those that say the original poster should have told their employer to f*** off or that she should've just hired an unknown babysitter need to grow up and enter the real world!"
Someone responded: "I can understand not helping out majority of the time. The baby is not her kid and she has her own responsibilities.
"However, she is living there for free, her sister supports her financially and said sister was in a pinch. It doesn't sound like an everyday occurrence so this would have been the absolute minimum to show that she appreciates the good thing she has going on."
Another fumed: "Not the a**hole. She is living with you for free. This was an exceptional circumstance. Like if the plumbing needing to be fixed and you asked her to stay home to let the plumber in.
"If she is going to live with you, you might occasionally ask her for a favor [sic]. Friends, sisters, and roommates to that. You literally opened your home and let her live for free. You thought she would treat you like a friend/sister in return. You thought if you needed her help she would try to help.
"It's time to ask her to leave, or have her sign a rental agreement to contribute by cleaning or babysitting. However, I don't think I would forgive her churlishness easily. I would expect my siblings (I have five of them) to actually care about me."
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
