They say it takes a village to raise a child. But what if that child’s parents fail to take responsibility for discipline? Recently, an aunt stepped in and scolded her nephew when his parents wouldn’t – and now, the boy’s mom is offended.
In early February, a Reddit user vented about the incident in a thread on the AITA subreddit. The original poster (OP) detailed a troubling situation in which the child risked hurting himself and damaging her property. The sister-in-law is now miffed about it, but is the OP the one at fault?
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The Reddit user detailed her nephew’s overly rambunctious behavior.
The OP (a 29-year-old woman) explained the tricky situation in a post she shared February 7. She described her 5-year-old nephew, “Zayn” as a “great kid” that “can be really unruly.”
“His parents – my brother and sister-in-law – don’t seem to discipline him much,” she observed.
During a get-together at the OP’s house, Zayn was out of control.
Next, the Reddit user set up the scenario that played out at her home.
“Recently, they came over to my house for dinner, and Zayn was running around, jumping on my couch with his shoes on, messing with things on my shelves, and even knocking over a drink,” she recalled. “His parents never tell him to stop.”
That’s when she stepped in and scolded her nephew.
Finally, the aunt reached a breaking point over her nephew’s behavior.
“After he nearly broke a decorative piece, I told him, ‘Zayn, please stop running and be careful with things in my house,'” the OP wrote. “He got quiet and sat down, but my sister-in-law got offended.”
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Now, the aunt is second-guessing her reaction.
“I feel like I had every right to set rules in my own home,” the OP insisted. “But now she is acting like I overstepped.”
She then asked fellow Reddit users: “AITA for telling my nephew to behave when his parents wouldn’t?”
Fellow Redditors agreed: The OP is not at fault.
In the thread’s comments, Redditors agreed the OP was not the a–hole, or NTA, in this situation.
One person wrote, “NTA. It’s your house, your rules. Honestly that behaviour is unacceptable and definitely needs to be addressed. You did not overstep at all.”
Another Reddit user pointed out, “You were polite and made a reasonable request. Assuming no learning disability, a 5-year old is not too young to understand some basic manners when visiting someone else’s house – like not jumping on furniture and asking before handling items.”
The person also suggested a strategy for the nephew’s next visit, writing, “Alternatively, move all breakables before visits, and it might be nice to get some lego or something in to keep Zayn occupied? – which stays at ‘auntie’s house’ as something to look forward to visits to you.”
Meanwhile, someone took a more bold stance, sharing, “NTA and his parents need to have their invites rescinded. It’s on them to teach, guide, set behavior standards and control their child. Until they can manage that, they can stay home.”
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
