Family is family…unless yours is blended and people make a point to remember who “really” belong to who.

OP has an older half brother. They shared a mother, who passed away, and now her brother isn’t around much.

I (15F) have an older brother (23M) who is my favorite person. We share a mom but have different dads.

My dad was his step dad but my brother and dad were not close and when our mom died several years ago my brother chose to finish high school at our grandparents house and not live with dad and me.

My dad remarried a year after mom died and my stepmom has a daughter who is 3 years younger than me and then I have two half siblings from them.

She visits him when she can.

My brother is still a very big part of my life.

I see him all the time. I go to his house whenever I can. I make sure I see him every Christmas no matter what else is going on.

He’s the family I will always prioritize and he has been great to me. If I could live with him easily, I would.

My dad and stepmom don’t like how much time I spend with my brother but they also dislike that my brother buys stuff for me and doesn’t ever get anything for the other kids here or even treats them like family.

He has nothing to do with anyone else in the house.

Her father, stepmother, and assortment of siblings are upset that she’s not around as much as she could be.

Things kind of bubbled over during Christmas when my step sister was upset that I went to my brother’s Christmas Eve and then her grandparents (stepmom’s parents) came over and I wasn’t there and missed out on “family time”.

I was kind of glad to miss it honestly. I’d rather be with my brother and my dad is always such a pain when his ILs are there because he wants me to call them grandma and grandpa.

My dad and stepmom sat me down a couple of days after Christmas and told me I need to stop putting my brother before everyone else because it comes across as him being first in my life instead of everyone being equal.

I told them he is first though and always was. I told them nothing has changed for me. They said he shouldn’t be my priority when it comes to siblings at least because I have four siblings altogether and not just one.

OP doesn’t care, but her parents do.

I didn’t argue with them after that and they were angry. I know my stepmom told dad afterward to let me live with him to spare the other kids but he said he couldn’t do that or they’d never see me again.

She asked if that would be such a bad thing because clearly I don’t care about any of them.

Their disagreement led to me being told again a few days later that I was behaving badly and shouldn’t have said what I did.

AITA?

Should she consider their opinion?  You know Reddit has thoughts!

The top comment is appalled by her parents’ behavior.

This person agrees OP needed more time to heal.

And this commenter is just sad for OP’s predicament.

Instead of a quick remarriage, try therapy.

More people should try it.

I am sorry that OP didn’t have enough time to grieve her mother.

But glad her brother is there for her.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.