For many parents, the child-free people in our lives are a godsend. They can love on our kids, love us, and step in to help when they’re able. But a lot of the time, child-free folks are taken for granted. One woman on Reddit shared a story about how her toddler nephew wrecked havoc on her expensive items.
What is most shocking, though, is that her sister made no real effort to take responsibility, putting it on the other woman for not protecting her things better.
The OP explained that her sister and nephew needed a place to stay for a night.
A 25-year-old woman asked Redditors if she was overreacting after her “spirited” 3-year-old nephew destroyed important things in her house. She explained that her sister assured her that it was just for one night, and she’d keep an eye on her son.
“Within ten minutes of arriving, he’d pulled four books off my shelf, thrown my houseplants on the floor, and spilled juice on my area rug. I tried to stay chill, he’s three, I get it … but I asked my sister politely to please keep him out of my office, where my PC setup is,” the woman wrote in her post.
The woman explained that she turned her “office” space into a detailed gaming room. Her PC gaming setup is incredibly important to her and has cost over $2,000 to build, she added.
Her sister rolled her eyes at the request but closed the door.
The following morning, however, things went from bad to worse. Her toddler nephew “had apparently woken up before his mom, managed to open the office door, and decided my setup was his new jungle gym,” the OP wrote.
The rambunctious little boy cracked a computer monitor and poured juice into the PC tower. He also allegedly ripped keys off the keyboard, colored on the chair with permanent marker, and stuffed crackers into vents.
As the woman began freaking out, her sister tried to deflect the blame. “You should’ve baby-proofed the room if it was that important to you,” the boy’s mother said.
The OP demanded that her sister replace everything the boy had destroyed, but she refused.
Her sister began venting to the rest of the family, causing them to “blow up” the younger woman’s phone. Her mother called her “materialistic,” and her father said she should have “locked the door” to keep her toddler nephew out.
The woman told her sister if she didn’t pay her for the damage she’d take her to court. That made her sister demand an apology for “blaming her kid for being curious.” When the woman again asked for money, the older sister blocked her.
Commenters were on the OP’s side of the fight, including many parents.
“As a parent to a current 3 year old and former 3 year old (now 12) , I can assure you that this behavior is more likely than not a result of lazy-a– parenting,” one person wrote. “It wouldn’t shock me if that’s the case with your sister considering how she reacted to her child destroying your s—. The onus is on the parent, not the host, to care for and ensure your child doesn’t do s— like this.”
“She’s an absent parent that wasn’t watching her kid. She should absolutely replace it,” someone else commented. “Weren’t y’all taught if you break something that belongs to someone else, you fix it or replace it? Especially if it’s due to negligence.”
“As a mom of two myself, this is entirely unacceptable. You cannot expect other people to baby proof for you,” another person wrote. “As parents, we’re used to having most of our things ruined by toddlers, but that doesn’t mean the people around you should expect it as well. The fact that she literally doesn’t even care what has happened is mind blowing. Maybe she’s just embarrassed and deflecting, because this speaks absolute volumes about her parenting skills.”
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.
