When you’re stuck babysitting a tantrum-prone 4-year-old, creative solutions are fair game—or are they?

One woman, inspired by her late dog’s training days, dusted off an old clicker and introduced positive reinforcement to tame her nephew’s wild side.

But when mom found out, it wasn’t just the kid throwing a fit.

Check this one out.

AITA for training my nephew

My sister has a nearly 4 year old son who isn’t the most misbehaved kid on earth but she doesn’t really disciple him so he’ll have tantrums, take things without asking, etc.

He’s a sweet kid otherwise and it’s not his fault, it’s just that my sister is very lax about parenting, which isn’t good.

Babysitting can be a real hassle because of this.

I had a dog up until a few years ago, Frisco.

(Named because I was really into Frisky Dingo at the time, not named after the city.)

He passed away in 2021 at the ripe old age of 16.

I used a clicker to train him as a puppy and it worked really well.

I still have his old clicker along with some of his other things. He was a good boy.

I can see where this is going…

Anyway, I’ve been watching my nephew for my sister a few times a week and at first he was a little annoying and wouldn’t listen to anything I’d say.

I couldn’t tell him to do anything without it turning into a tooth-and-nail kind of fight against his willpower.

Then one day I remembered Frisco and how he was a stubborn pup when I first got him.

So I brought out the old clicker.

If my nephew does something that he’s supposed to do, I click the clicker and give him positive reinforcement and sometimes a small treat in the form of sweets or screen time.

Bow wow!

At first I wasn’t sure it would do anything but now it’s helped tremendously.

He eats his food, he gets a click and praise.

He puts away his toy after playing, he gets a click and praise.

Same with not being fussy about taking a bath, turning off the tablet or TV when it’s time to, even when he uses the potty.

The other week I was hanging out with him and my sister and she had asked my nephew to wash his hands.

He got up and did it without question and my sister was impressed with him.

After he was done I clicked the clicker and told him good job.

He came and gave me a hug.

When I looked at my sister I didn’t expect her to be so furious. Like she was really about to freak out.

Oh dear.

She accused me of treating her nephew like a dog and not thinking of him as a human which is ridiculous.

It’s just something I found that works for both he and I.

I don’t see him as a dog at all, obviously.

His made such improvements in his temperament and behavior that I didn’t think she’d have a problem with it.

But now she doesn’t want me to babysit anymore and I feel really embarrassed, ashamed, and anxious about what I did being horribly wrong.

So I really don’t know.

AITA for training my nephew with my dog’s old clicker?

Reddit’s verdict?

The line between genius and offensive might just be one click away.

This person thinks it was pretty smart, though it makes sense why her sister is pissed.

This person says no harm no foul.

This person says NTA, but has an idea on where to go from here.

Turns out, treating a kid like a dog gets tails wagging—but not mom’s approval.

I mean, whatever works.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.