Mom Of Two Turns The Whole Family Against Her Oldest Cousin After He Stopped Babysitting For Them During Family Events

Redditors advised the cousin to polish his spine before his family resumes using him as a doormat

Chelsi

• Published in Interesting
• May 29, 2023

Some think it's okay to take advantage of another person's kindness. After all, a truly kind person won't mind if they were clever enough to exploit someone's generous spirit.

However, even the kindest of souls can reach their limit. A 29-year-old OP got used to being the default babysitter in their family.

OP is the oldest grandchild and became the entrusted babysitter for his younger cousins at family events. It has been happening since OP was a child himself, but even then, it didn't bother him too much because he genuinely enjoyed being around his younger cousins.

OP started to question his role when one of his cousins assumed without asking that he would gladly continue being everyone's babysitter. Amy has two children and kept offloading her children to OP despite his protests.

It is not in OP's nature to be confrontational, so he didn't say anything. His building resentment didn't become much of an issue when the pandemic happened, and his babysitting duties ceased indefinitely.

Family gatherings are back on everyone's social calendar except for OP's. He made up excuses to sit out on most of their events, and his relatives are starting to feel his absence.

OP's mom asked him why he's been pulling away from their family, and OP told the truth. She assured him that she would talk to Amy on his behalf.

Naturally, Amy told everyone that OP has been telling lies to avoid their family events

He said he just didn't want to watch other people's babies

They have been messaging OP to tell him how selfish he was for making them worry because he couldn't be bothered to watch the children for a few hours

Some people asked OP can make it clear that he plans on drinking at these family events until they eventually stop making him babysit their kids. OP shut that down quickly.

Everyone who berated OP can step up to the plate and tell Amy they all volunteer to babysit for her whenever she wants

OP doesn't need to make up excuses anymore, he can just completely avoid attending these gathering since they don't really value him anyway

OP should try his hardest not to cave in to his family's emotional manipulation. They can brand him whatever adjective they want and he still wouldn't be the a**hole.

Not one of them reached out, aside from his mom, to actually find out if he was okay. They just wanted to know when he can babysit again.

They definitely felt his absence when they had to take care of their own children during these events which explains their intense reaction

OP should try being more assertive. It's great when people know you don't mess around with your boundaries.

OP already verbalized how fed up he was with babysitting but they completely ignored him and did whatever they wanted

It's laughable that they call OP selfish when that's how they've been behaving all these years. OP may have been present at all those special events, but he definitely didn't enjoy them because of all the children he has to worry about.

Those who were so ready to yell at OP for not babysitting can now take the role and become Amy's free childcare. OP needs to start polishing that spine before he ends up as the default babysitter once more.

Chelsi