Pretty much everyone ends up doing babysitting duty for a family member at some point when they're a teenager. However, for some people this can be more of a chore than for others.
One person recently shared their story of why they felt pushed to the limit of "fake abandoning" their little cousin in order to get out of babysitting for a day.
The story was posted to Reddit's Am I The Asshole thread by an anonymous user called "oredorritos," who had been feeling conflicted about how they had handled a family situation.
"I [16-year-old female] live with my parents, my uncle, my aunt, and my cousin [3-year-old female]. My uncle and aunt keep wanting me to spend long portions of my life watching my little cousin. My parents think its my duty to help out, and it comes from their sexist beliefs that since I'm a girl I must do this childcare," they started by writing.
However, on one of her days off, she had planned to go to Disneyland with some friends. She wrote: "I was free one day and my friends had invited me to go to Disneyland the night before and said they would come pick me up."
When the morning came, and she was getting ready, her uncle called her out of the blue and "said he and his wife just pulled out of the neighborhood and that I need to watch my cousin since they knew I didn't have school or work."
Their uncle then turned off his phone, after essentially having abandoned his child at home. Her grandparents would not come over to babysit as they "didn't want to," and her parents were also at work.
So, she came up with the only way she could think of to get her uncle to come home and take proper responsibility of his baby.
"I texted my uncle I had just gotten picked up by my friend and wouldn't be home until the night or maybe even tomorrow," she wrote — and then clarified: "This was a lie, I had not left."
She then concluded her story by explaining: "He saw the text and returned home. When he returned home, I hid in the backyard and then escaped outside with some stuff I was bringing. Then my friends picked me up down the street and we went to Disneyland. My cousin was never left alone. I ignored calls from my parents, uncle, and aunt.
"When I got home they were furious, even after I explained I never actually abandoned my cousin."
People were quick to point out that it was the baby's parents who had actually abandoned the child, with some likening it to a hostage situation. Some of the msot fervent replies included the likes of:
"[You're not the asshole,] they abandoned their child by leaving the house without making sure that child care was available."
"Good on you for not giving into this. [It's] on par with hostage tactics -> you had better cover for our bad planning, or the baby gets it!"
One individual posited some ways that you can safely, "screw up child care enough that they will never ask you to do it again."
Some of their "best" ideas were: "Teach them how to swear," "feed them sugar and caffeine before mom and dad get home," and my personal favorite, "teach them how to make farting sounds with their arm pits [or] teach them the most annoying noise on the planet. (Watch dumb and dumber)."
While some people did suggest that there may have been more "mature" ways of handling the situation, it seems as though this teenager has made her point for the future.
Let us know whether you think she took this too far in the comments down below!
h/t: Reddit
