It might come as a surprise to some, but not everyone is a baby person. In fact, plenty of people want absolutely nothing to do with humans in their smallest form, and that even applies to their very own family members.
One woman opened up to Reddit about a major transgression committed by her sister-in-law. The woman writes that she recently let her brother and his wife move into her home because they're experiencing financial difficulties, but on one condition: "that I would not have anything to do with the baby."
Everything was all good until the other day, when the woman realized that her brother and his wife had left the house … but their baby was still home with her.
The family has been experiencing hard times.
Like a lot of people, the woman says her brother and his wife have been hit pretty hard by the economic fallout owing to the health crisis:
"My brother 'Chris' (29M) & wife 'Audrey' (27F) had a baby girl last spring, 'Ellie'. C teaches, A was a flight attendant. A lost her job, so they were struggling with rent. C & I aren’t close but we have always gotten on well, & so have A and I.
"Sadly, C & A had to give up their home. My house has 4 bedrooms (2 upstairs including mine, 2 downstairs on the same side) C asked if they could stay until they were back on their feet."
She had only one rule.
The woman also says that everyone agreed to her conditions before moving in:
"They moved in last month, terms being that they contributed a towards groceries & household utilities as they offered, under the 1 condition that I would not have anything to do with the baby. nothing against them or E, I just do not like babies, I don't know what to do with them, & frankly it would be irresponsible to leave an infant in my care because I wouldn’t know what to do if something went wrong."
It was fine until they needed a sitter one day ...
Everything was going well until the couple needed a sitter for a few hours, and their usual option wasn't available:
"A's sister babysat for them before, but she got a new job out of town so now she can’t. 2 days ago, A asked me if I would consider watching E for 1 afternoon, so she & C could go for a hike together. I said no, because I'd been very clear I would not babysit, & because I was working."
And they decided to just leave.
"A was upset, tried to argue, I again said No, & to drop it. 2 hours later, A tells me there's warmed milk on the stove, and then walked out of the house. By the time I realized E was still in the nursery napping & that A was telling me about the milk because it was for E, A&C were gone."
"A had left me with the baby, who I don’t know how to care for, & expressly said I WOULDNT care for."
The baby was OK, but the woman is MAD.
Everything worked out in terms of safety, but the woman was livid when her family returned:
"Thankfully, E is fine (she actually slept through the whole time they were gone), but I am Livid. C & A came back about three hours later (I was NOT able to get ahold of either of them, which made me even more upset, because what if something had gone wrong?) & I absolutely lost it on them."
Her relatives think she's overreacting.
It turns out her brother didn't know that the woman hadn't agreed to babysit … but he didn't see what the fuss was about:
"Turns out, A told C I agreed to babysit, & he was surprised to hear that wasn't true, but didn't see the big deal. A got angry with me, called me selfish, immature, & over dramatic. I told her she needed to apologize, she endangered her child, & if she ever did anything like that ever again I would kick her out, pandemic or not, and report her for abandoning her baby."
And now everyone is in a big fight.
"A has not spoken to me since. I'm furious about this, & C is saying 'nothing happened, I don't see the big deal.' Since A won't apologize or admit any wrongdoing & C is unbothered, I feel like this will happen again. I want to know if I was the [expletive] in this situation, because A has never yelled at me before & she called me selfish, immature and overly dramatic, which is out of character for her."
There are a lot of big 'what ifs' here!
People were quick to reassure the woman that she wasn't in the wrong. One commenter brought up a huge "what if" that could have been a disaster for everyone:
"You were clear about your expectations. It was incredibly dangerous of your SIL to leave her child without explicit permission. What if you hadn’t realized and left the house…"
Lots of people suggest reevaluating their living arrangement as well.
Other commenters encouraged the woman to kick her family out.
"I would be telling them to leave for being so disrespectful," said one. "And I've been the exhausted new mom who misses her freedom—I would never leave my child with someone who didn't want him even if he would sleep the whole time. It takes selfish to a whole other level."
They also questioned the motivations of the baby's mom.
Some people questioned whether not the woman's sister-in-law really cares about her daughter. As one commenter noted:
"Even if you're absolutely burned out and sick of your kids most people I know wouldn't even think of abandoning their kid with someone who didn't agree and doesn't like kids. It's dangerous. Caring parents don't do that."
It seems like the sister-in-law is the real problem.
"SIL has a very dangerous and entitled attitude. Protect yourself from that."
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