It is a thoroughly awful feeling when you realize that someone doesn’t think you’re a good enough parent. Sure, plenty of folks have very different approaches to raising their kids. But you’d at least expect your nearest and dearest family members to have your back. When they don’t trust you at all, however, there’s a lot of room for tension.
A redditor turned to the AITA community for their verdict on whether or not she was wrong to forbid her brother and sister-in-law from seeing her 4-year-old daughter. Everything came to a head after they babysat while she was ill and decided not only to throw out her medicine, but also her clothes. Read on for the full story, in the OP’s own words, as well as to see how the internet reacted to such a strange turn of events.
It can be incredibly difficult for recovering parents to rebuild a sense of trust among their family members
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
A mom, who had been sober for 2 years at the time, shared what finally made her forbid her brother and sister-in-law from seeing her daughter again
Everything started when the girl fell ill while the mom was busy with school. She asked the couple to babysit their niece
When the woman came back home, she was shocked to realize what her brother and SIL had done
Image credits: Sean Freese (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/aitastomachflu
Unfortunately, the post author’s account got suspended by Reddit for an unknown reason, so we were unable to reach out to her. In her post, the redditor explains that she recently got sober. For a time, her brother and sister-in-law were the ones to take care of her daughter.
However, after getting sober, the OP felt like the two of them resented her for taking her child back from them. What’s more, they’ve even contacted Child Protective Services a number of times explaining that they don’t trust her. It appears that the couple feels like they know what’s best for the OP’s daughter.
This led to a very strange situation some time ago. The author of the post had asked her brother and SIL to babysit her daughter while she had school-related matters to attend to. At the time, the girl had caught a nasty stomach bug and had some medicine prescribed for her.
When the mom got back home, she found that her relatives had thrown out her daughter’s medicine, as well as… her clothes.
“They also felt her clothes weren’t good enough for her so they gave it to their neighbor for their garage sale and bought her new clothes, meaning they most likely took her shopping when she was sick and should’ve been resting,” the redditor writes. She then decided that she and her daughter would no longer be visiting them. She also revealed on Reddit that she had plans to move far, far away.
The mom shared some more information in the comments of her post
It’s absolutely clear that the couple doesn’t trust the mom to do anything right. Good intentions? Perhaps. Demeaning approach? Definitely. Ulterior motives? Maybe. Many members of the AITA community who read the story felt like the brother and SIL were trying to sabotage the mom’s recovery and relationship with her child. Some others speculated that the couple might even have been doing this to regain custody of the girl.
Setting clear boundaries with the people you love and who care about you is rarely fun. However, it’s absolutely essential for the sake of happy and healthy relationships. And it all starts with a calm but honest conversation about how someone’s behavior makes you feel and why you need them to respect you just as much as you respect them.
Try to see their point of view. Hear them out. Try to look for compromises. But at the end of the day, you have to be direct and assertive about what the relationship needs to look like going forward. Someone who constantly ignores your boundaries does not respect you, even if they (probably) have good intentions. If things aren’t moving forward, consider talking to a therapist—whether personally or in a group. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for advice.
What did you think of the story, dear Pandas? Who do you think was in the wrong? What would you have done if you were in the mom’s shoes? How do you think the mom and her daughter are doing right now? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Here’s how some other readers reacted to the intense situation
The post Brother And SIL Throw Away Niece’s Clothes And Medicine While Babysitting Her, So The Mom Forbids Them From Seeing Her Again first appeared on Bored Panda.
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