Kids can be messy, so when a mom found out that her kids drew all over her sister’s freshly repainted walls, she kind of shrugged it off. Her sister had a different perspective, though. Now that she has to repaint the walls again, she thinks her sister should pitch in and cover some of the costs. That’s because her kids were the ones who damaged the walls.
In a post shared on Reddit, the 25-year-old woman said she hosted a family dinner at her house recently, and her sister brought her 5-year-old twins. Not wanting the kids to get bored, the woman set up a table specifically for her sister’s kids. The kids’ table had snacks, washable markers, and paper. When she returned to the area, however, she was shocked to discover that instead of merely drawing pictures on the paper, the two boys had scribbled all over the wall.
She didn’t know what to say at first.
In her post, the woman explained that she and her husband recently “repainted [the] living room after weeks of patching and sanding.” It was so recent that you could still smell the paint. When she saw that her sister’s kids had scribbled all over the freshly painted walls, she didn’t know what to do.
“I went to grab more drinks and my stomach dropped because living room wall had loops and zigzags all over the fresh paint…one of the twins handed me a marker cap and said oopsie,” she recalled. “I didn’t even know what to say for a second.”
The woman called for her sister.
Her sister didn’t seem overly concerned about the damage, and the way she responded actually came across as pretty dismissive. “She kind of laughed and said boys will be boys, they’ll get bored,” the woman wrote. “So I tried wiping and the color just smeared into the matte paint. Jess said they’re little once and I can repaint. That stung.”
To address the issue, the woman “bought the fancy cleaners the paint store recommended” and got a quote from a painter. He told her that sanding, priming, and redoing the wall would cost $200.
She wants to ask her sister to chip in.
The two sisters clearly have different perspectives on who is responsible for what happened. After getting the quote, the woman texted her sister asking if she would cover some of the costs. However, her sister accused her of “punishing creativity” and suggested that she was responsible for what happened because she “should have put the markers away completely.”
Although the woman thinks it’s only fair that her sister chips in, her husband thinks it’s unnecessary — especially because the woman’s sister is a single mom with a limited budget.
“I keep going back and forth,” the woman admitted. “We put time and money into the space, and I tried to plan for the twins. Asking for help with the repaint feels fair to me, and then I think about Jess’s budget and I feel mean.”
Reactions were mixed.
Some Redditors sided with the woman and agreed her sister “should absolutely be helping to cover the damages that HER unsupervised children caused,” as one person commented. Others argued that every adult involved in this situation was responsible for what happened.
“Why any of you thought it would be a good idea to leave twin five-year-olds unsupervised with markers is beyond me,” someone else wrote. “And then to do it in a freshly remodeled room. Like have you ever met children? But yes, obviously their parent is ultimately responsible for them and any damage they do.”
“Never leave kids alone with items that will harm themselves or their surroundings,” another person advised. “You gave them markers. That’s on you. No one supervised them. They are five. You all suck.
“The mother is excusing the [behavior] as creativity,” the person continued. “She’s an a–hole setting her kids up for failure instead of teaching them manners, rules and civility.”
Even though some people argued that 5-year-olds should know better, others defended the woman’s sister. “She’s not wrong, kids will be kids and [do] stupid s—,” one person commented. “What did you think would happen?”
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