All parents have their preferences and guidelines for what they're comfortable with their kids being exposed to regularly. For some, the line is drawn at anything depicting violence; others have a more relaxed idea at what their kids can watch or do. Those boundaries often change as the kids grow or the parents become more comfortable, and all of this can sometimes lead to issues within the extended family.
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One aunt found herself in this situation when she made a gift for her nephew that didn't sit well with the rest of the family.
Taking to Reddit's Am I the A–hole community, an anonymous aunt (OP) shared a situation that happened regarding a boundary her sister has with her kids. She started her post on Reddit with some back history on her family — specifically her sister.
"My sister and I weren't raised religious. She went off to uni at 18 and became a Christian when she started dating another Christian," OP explained.
"Basically the point is she doesn't believe anymore that dinosaurs exist," she wrote. "She's now married to a man who isn't religious which is a sore point for her that he won't convert."
OP's sister has two kids — her niece and nephew — and it sounds like they're pretty close as a family.
"I have a niece (9) and a nephew (6)," OP shared, before jumping into the story that brought her to Reddit.
"A couple of weeks ago while watching them, my nephew mentioned his quilt I made him was getting too short so I told them both to go into my craft room and pick some fabrics they each want on a quilt," she wrote.
"I could easily open a fabric shop with all the fabric I have so they had a rare time picking out their fabrics. My niece went for some space/galaxy themed and my nephew picked out some dinosaur fabrics. I thought nothing of it and got to work."
It's a lovely gesture for the aunt to spend time making quilts for her niece and nephew, so she was excited to hand them over when she finished them.
"Today I went over with their quilts, excited to see their reaction," she said.
Everything changed, though, when her sister, the kids' mom, saw the quilts. "They were so happy until my sister noticed my nephew's quilt and asked 'what the f—?!'."
"I was confused and she quickly went on a rant about her knowing dinosaurs don't exist and how dare I try brainwash her child like that," OP continued. "I told her he picked out the fabric himself, I genuinely didn't make the connection and I would let him pick more fabric for a different quilt."
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OP tried to make it right — but it wasn't working.
"By this point my nephew is crying saying he doesn't want a different quilt so my sister called my BIL in telling him to set me straight," OP wrote.
"He basically shrugged and asked what the big deal was, it's only fabric, their son likes the fabric, it's his son too and he believes in dinosaurs so he should get a say on the quilt too if it's such a big deal."
Her sister didn't buy her apology and neither did her parents.
"My parents are now involved and despite not being religious, they are p—ed at me for what I've done," OP explained. "No one but my BIL believes it was a genuine mistake or oversight and they think I've set out to mock my sister's beliefs."
She continued, "I honestly didn't think I'd have to vet my nephew's fabric choices with my sister as all the fabric they had access to was kid friendly prints."
OP asked the Reddit community if she was in the wrong for making her nephew a quilt out of dinosaur fabric.
OP's not the a–hole, someone quickly replied. "If she’s so sure dinosaurs aren’t real what’s the problem? Would she be p—ed if a unicorn fabric was picked? Or dragons?"
"NTA and just so you know the majority of Christians aren't like that," another person wrote. "Dinosaurs don't go against Christianity. Anyways definitely NTA and I don't see why your parents are siding with her."
Looking through all the comments, it was challenging to find one that told OP she was in the wrong. One Redditor wrote, "I don't believe unicorns exist but I could handle my child having a unicorn quilt."
And that pretty much summed up what most people thought.
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.
