Redditor NewAgeCactus, a 24-year-old woman, was asked to watch her four-year-old nephew while her older sister went away on vacation with her boyfriend.
But in addition to asking her younger sister for a favor, she made a demand the Redditor felt was very unreasonable.
When the two sisters butted heads over a stalemate decision, the Redditor visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit asked:
“AITA for not watching my nephew while my sister goes on vacation?”
The Original Poster (OP) wrote:
“Back at the start of 2020 I agreed to watch my sister’s (28 Female) son, whom I’ll call Joe, while she went on a week-long vacation with her boyfriend.”
“Joe is a great kid I get along with well, and I had – and have! – absolutely no problem watching him. But, as you might imagine, she didn’t end up going on that vacation, so I never watched Joe.”
“Fast forward a year and a half. My sister and her boyfriend have decided to go on their vacation now, and she asked me to watch Joe for her again. But now there’s a problem!”
“I got a pandemic puppy, Charlie, last year and my sister is irrationally afraid that Charlie will attack Joe if they’re together for too long. Charlie and Joe have been together many times and there has never been a problem, so I don’t understand her fear.”
“Charlie is a very sweet dog. He did growl at Joe once, but even my sister admitted that Joe was bothering him too much, and Charlie would never ever bite anyone.”
“My sister expects me to take Charlie to a kennel for the week they’ll be gone. I am unwilling to do this as, first of all, I can’t afford it, and second, Charlie has never been apart from me for more than a few hours.”
“My sister told me that I should have no problem being apart from Charlie if she doesn’t have a problem being apart from Joe, but I didn’t like that.”
“I told her that I have no problem watching Joe, but Charlie will have to be there – and if she doesn’t like that, then I can’t watch Joe.”
“She is telling me that no one else is able to watch Joe, and that he can’t go on their vacation as it’s meant to be romantic. She is saying that I’m ruining her chance to go on vacation – and, to be fair, she hasn’t been on vacation in a long time.”
“Am I the a**hole here? Should I board Charlie so I can watch Joe?”
Strangers online were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
Many Redditors sided with the OP was not the a**hole here.
“NTA. Stand your ground and take that ‘to be fair, she hasn’t been on vacation in a long time’ mentality out of your head.”
“There are millions of people who haven’t been on vacation. It’s her responsibility to find someone to watch her son if the environment you’re providing isn’t up to her standards.”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that she wants you to put your sweet dog in a kennel.”
“Don’t make excuses for her because you’ll only validate what she is saying.” – DisneyAddict2021
“NTA. It is fair.”
“The vast majority of people have not been on vacation in at least 20 months. Not just ops sister. She’s in the same boat as everyone else, seems fair.”
“What’s not fair is making ops puppy a problem, when it isn’t. It’s just a problem for her sister who has some form of anxiety on it. Someone else’s problem, not my problem. Leave the sister to sort herself out.” – Sirix_8472
“My grandparents took my dad and uncle (6 and 10 at the time) on their f’king honeymoon because their bio dad couldn’t be f’ked to hire a babysitter while he was at work. Parents do for their kids, period.” – Lightworthy09
“NTA your dog is your family now. You don’t just give your family away whenever someone asked for it. If you do it once, they expect you to do it everytime.”
“But no wonder that she thinks that it is no problem for you to do so, if her own child would ruin her oh so romantic holiday. She should have looked for a hotel with babysitter and than she could have spend nice hours alone with her man and still has family time. I bet the child could have also want a vacation.”
“Don’t ever give your doggie away. Or put him in a kernel if there is no reason! She want a big favor from you, so she must take how it is.” – Acceptable-Abalone20
“NTA. Your not ruining her vacation. She has the option to leave Joe with you & your puppy. I wouldn’t board the puppy even if she offered to pay because it is part of your family and not aggressive.”
“If she believes it to be a problem she needs to find other arrangements for her son. You don’t need change your life to accommodate for a nonexistent problem.” – winesis
“NTA. Your sister can either get over her fear and send Joe to your house with Charlie present, take Joe with her on vacation, or she can find someone else to watch Joe for that week.”
“Sending the dog someplace that you can’t afford out of some irrational fear is ridiculous. You’re already agreeing to take care of a toddler which is a massive time and energy requirement, and now she’s asking you to do more on top of that?” – ttt_tia23
“NTA. As you have stated, the situation is different and she wants you to incur a cost (dog kennel) to she can go on vacation. No.”
“She can accept the dog will be there and you will take care of Joe and trust you or she can get someone else or not go. Her request is unreasonable.” – SnazzySusieQ
Overall, Redditors believed the sister was being audacious in expecting her sister to accommodate her demands.