Woman asks Reddit's advice after brother calls her a 'bad aunt' for refusing to babysit 'ever'
The woman said her brother and sister-in-law admitted to lying so they could go on date nights
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A woman has been slammed by her brother and sister-in-law for her refusal to babysit her nephew, but Reddit thinks she's in the right. (iStock)
This is why you don't lie.
A woman asked popular Reddit forum to weigh in on her decision to not babysit her nephew, even during a medical emergency.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Reddit user posted her saga earlier this week, explaining that when her sister-in-law first got pregnant, she had offered to babysit the couple's child for medical emergencies, but not “if they just wanted time off from being parents."
“I work 60-100 hours a week, so if anyone needs time off, it’s me,” she wrote.
Last year, however, the woman claimed the two asked her to babysit on the day of her own important work retreat.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Everyone is expected to go [on the retreat], and it’s frowned upon if you miss it. They wanted to go on a date. I said no, I have an important work event. They continued to nag me about how they haven’t gone on a date for so long,” she wrote.
The night before her work event, “they called in a panic and said their friend Mike from the next city over had been in a car accident, and I needed to babysit nephew for a few hours.”
The Reddit user said she “reluctantly agreed,” but under the condition that they be back by 7 a.m. the next day so she could leave for the retreat. But her brother and sister-in-law did not return for two days, and did not answer any of her phone calls or texts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I had to cancel on my superiors morning of, which looked awful,” she wrote.
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Her brother had an excuse when they returned, claiming “Mike’s life was in danger and they were too busy helping his girlfriend.” And then, for weeks afterward, the Reddit user said her brother and sister-in-law asked her to babysit many more times, each time saying they were visiting Mike to help him with his recovery.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two months later, however, the woman claims that her company, and the company that Mike's girlfriend works for, had a meeting, and that she ran into the two of them.
“Mike had never been in an accident, and although [my brother and sister-in-law] had gone to visit them recently, it was for drinks and bowling, not bringing them chicken noodle soup in the hospital,” she wrote.
“I made it clear that after this incident, I would never babysit for them again, and I’ve stuck to that.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After confronting her brother and sister-in-law, the woman said they admitted to lying so they could go on date nights.
“They claimed I gave them no choice since I would never help them out when they needed time together because parenting was so stressful and difficult," she said, adding that her brother and his wife told her she "had no idea" about what it was like to be a parent, and that she shouldn't be upset over "a little white lie."
“I made it clear that after this incident, I would never babysit for them again, and I’ve stuck to that,” she added.
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Recently, however, the woman's brother claimed he was in desperate need of a babysitter, as his wife's relative was in the hospital. Despite proof this time that the emergency was real, she still refused, causing a rift.
“They said I was a bad aunt, needed to get over my grudge, and a petty a--h---,” she wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It appears, however, that a few thousand people are on her side.
The Reddit post, which has been upvoted more than 25,000 times, received nearly 2,000 comments from users who largely agree with her decision.
“[They] didn't just cry wolf once, [they] kept an ongoing chorus for months. Never babysit again. Ever. I don't care if they are the ones in the hospital themselves,” one person wrote. “This Christmas, I think you should give them a nice book of children's stories, be sure it contains 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf.'”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Dumping your child for two freaking DAYS with someone is not even going on a ‘date night,’” another commented.
“Even if it really is a 'genuine' emergency this time, there's is no way they won't milk it for all it's worth. My kid has to come with me no matter the emergency. Between the two of them, I'm sure they can figure it out,” another pointed out.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If she does ever babysit again, at least she’ll have this dad-approved hack of getting babies to sleep easily, depending on her nephew’s age.