Going through a separation and divorce can be tough enough as it is, but it can get even harder if you need to move in with family while you work through the process. One woman has shared on Reddit that her newly separated sister-in-law and her three children recently moved in with her while the sister-in-law figures out her next step. That's cool, right?
Well, it was … until the sister-in-law overstepped in a huge way. At least, it's become a huge thing, because it involves the Lego collection of the woman's son, whom she is calling Jake.
"I am a mom of an only child (Jake) who just turned 9 back in August. Jake is obsessed with anything to do with building and wants to be an architect when hes older," she began. "I fully support this dream and have spent a crap ton of money buying the graph paper, the table, rulers, and the biggest expense, legos. He likes to spend his time drawing out his plans for his lego builds before he moves over to the blocks to actually build things and I think hes fantastic at it."
That's great that she's supporting her son, and you can tell how much it matters to her. She keeps going, sharing that Jake even has his own "office" where he works on his projects:
"For his birthday, I cleared out our spare room and hubby and I set it up as Jake's 'office' complete with a huge lego table. This room is my son's pride and joy and he spends a lot of time in there. Anytime any kids come over, they have to have his permission to go in and we enforce it. Here's where the problem starts."
This was all well and good until her sister-in-law asked if they could turn the "office" into a room that she and her kids could use:
"My SIL recently left her husband and her and her 3 kids came to stay with us. This would be fine if she hadn't started throwing a fit about Jake's office. She wants more room in our house even tho they have the entire finished basement that has a family room that they are using as a bedroom. She wants us to clear out Jake's office so she can have space away from her kids."
The woman and her husband said no, which didn't sit well with her sister-in-law. She took it up a notch, demanding that her children also be allowed to play in the office.
"When we told her no, she got angry. She then started demanding we let her kids play in there because Legos are toys and Jake needs to share. I told her she was out of her d*mned mind because Jake said he didn't want his cousins in there, that he's working on a huge project(he has been building a city)."
Well, the sister-in-law apparently snapped, and she destroyed Jake's hard work.
"SIL went crazy and ended up destroying all the work Jake put into his build. 'Now there's no excuse' I was beyond angry and went downstairs, grabbed her stuff, threw it into bags and threw it all out of my house, and told her to leave."
The woman says that her family, including her husband, were all stunned by the fact that she kicked out her sister-in-law, and everyone thinks she's the problem. Unfortunately for them, she's not convinced, so that's why she's asked Reddit to step in and advise her.
A lot of people agreed with the woman that this is a major deal, and some people are concerned that her husband doesn't.
"OP [original poster], you need to clear this up with your husband," one commenter said. "This is no joke, he can't overlook his son's happiness like this over someone that purposely trampled all over it. I mean, why? She got an entire basement."
Others said there's no reason for the sister to ever come back:
"…it's not about the LEGOs it's about her trying to call the shots and assert her dominance in YOUR house and when you didn't cave she [expletive] damaged your child's possessions? She can [expletive] and stay out. Any relatives that have a problem with it can take her in. Your husband probably just thinks you were too extreme because he's brainwashed into thinking you have to put up with [expletive] behavior from family. Sadly most people would let family do things they would never let a stranger get away with."
People are really making a great point: Why is the entire extended family saying the behavior from the sister-in-law is OK? Destroying his Lego city is actually a pretty violent act, especially since it happened just because she's not getting her own way. Sometimes it is kind of incredible what we'll let family get away with.
As one person put, that's now how adults solve arguments and disagreements:
"Your sister was mad so she destroyed a kid's toyroom? (I know Legos can be rebuilt, but still…) That's not how adults handle a disagreement. I mean, does she snatch kids' ice creams and throw bricks through the windshields of expensive cars? She sounds unhinged tbh, and I wouldn't trust her near my kids."
Really, the part where she decides that violence will solve her problem is what made people turn against the sister-in-law en masse, as a commenter explained:
"Buuut her doing that, her going out of her way to wreck your sons stuff, is beyond petty and incredibly telling of her character – especially that crack about 'now there's no excuse' as if destroying someone else's property in a house they've graciously offered you to stay in make any kind of sense at all!"
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