There are a lot of doctors appointments a woman has to go to when she’s pregnant, and those doctors appointments get more and more frequent closer to the due date.

In today’s story, a woman wants her sister to babysit while she’s at a doctor’s appointment because the sister works from home, but the sister tries to explain that working from home is not the same thing as being on vacation.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

AITA For refusing to babysit while WFH?

My (30F) sister (32F) is heavily pregnant, due in 1-2 weeks with her 3rd child (M), and as such is attending regular doctor’s appointments 1-2 times a week.

I’m part of her birth plan and will be taking 1-2 vacation days and watching her kids while her and her husband are in the hospital when she’s giving birth.

She chose me because she knows our parents, her husband’s parents, and our older brother won’t respect her wishes about quarantine and safety, and she also asked me to quarantine ahead of time because I can WFH.

I spoke with my boss and he agreed. All okay so far.

Her sister needed someone to watch her kids during a doctor’s appointment.

Last week, with my boss’ permission, I started WFH prior to Thanksgiving. I didn’t take any vacation because I only get 3 weeks total for the year and needed to save for when she’s in the hospital.

She had an appointment last Tuesday at her Gyno, and needed someone to watch her older 2 kids.

Her husband makes good money as a Truck engine mechanic and is working OT currently to get money for the baby and account for lost income while my sister is on FMLA / Maternity leave. (He’s in the shop away from customers and is doing 6 ft / masking at her request) so he couldn’t.

And she didn’t want my parents, his parents, or our older brother / sister in law watching them because they aren’t quarantining.

OP explained why she couldn’t babysit while working.

So she asked me to watch them, thinking that I could just set them up while working, and I told her no.

I understand she is under a large amount of hormones and stress right now, so her reaction was understandable that she panicked, said she was worried about my reliability when she has the baby, etc.

Being aware of her current mental stress, I kindly explained that there is a difference between WFH and vacation, and that my boss often does impromptu zoom calls.

I kindly explained that if it were just the 3 year old I could probably set them up with a tablet / etc, but the one-year-old would have no idea that I’m working and would need constant watching / attention as my house isn’t babyproof as I’m child-free.

Her sister is mad at her.

She eventually accepted it and decided to have our aunt who is retired to watch them, as both she and her husband never leave the house.

She’s still mad at me though and thinks I should have just watched the kids for a few hours while WFH.

AITA?

Working from home is definitely not the same as vacation, and OP is right that a 1-year-old would probably need a lot of attention.

Considering her sister was able to easily find someone else to babysit, I don’t think she should be mad at her sister who is already planning her work schedule around her sister’s due date.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

It’s not reasonable to expect someone to babysit toddlers while working from home.

Just imagine if she had a webcam conference call with a baby and a toddler!

The kids wouldn’t get the attention they deserve.

Why do people think of working from home as different than going to work in an office?

Here’s the perspective of someone who works from home…

I wouldn’t be able to babysit a baby and a toddler while working from home.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.