Sibling relationships can be complicated, especially when suppressed feelings and big age gaps are involved.

So, what would you do if your child expressed their feelings about a strained sibling relationship in a way that caused an uproar?

Would you step in and discipline them?

Or would you defend their actions, even if they upset others?

In the following story, one mother finds herself dealing with this very scenario.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for not reprimanding my daughter for a video she posted about my stepdaughter even though what she said was true?

My husband has a daughter, “Edith” (27F), from his first marriage.

He divorced his ex when Edith was 7, but she apparently had a hard time with the split, moving houses, etc.

He and I met and married when Edith was 10. Together, we now have “Cecilee” (15F) and “Peter” (10M).

Edith has always been aloof with our children.

She was never particularly interested in them, although both kids, Cecilee especially, would’ve loved a closer relationship with her.

It took a while, but Cecilee finally started to get over wanting to be close to Edith.

I did bring up to my husband a few times that I was worried about Edith not being closer to her siblings.

He responded that her ambivalence was better than he expected, given how hard she took the divorce, and he did not want to rock the boat.

I was not happy with this, but I let it rest.

He and Edith are pretty close, but she barely speaks to me, Cecilee, or Peter.

Cecilee has mostly gotten over her desire to be close to Edith.

I used to see her perk up when she saw her at family functions a few years ago, making a point to sit close to her or talk to her.

She does not do that anymore and is polite but not super eager when we see Edith now.

Everything changed when she found some TikTok videos.

Cecilee recently discovered a TikTok account for Edith’s cousin.

Apparently, Edith has her sleepover in her condo (she lives in a big, “fun” city), and they go to events.

They seem to be very close.

This opened up a whole lot of feelings for Cecilee, and she got upset and responded to the video, saying, “That’s my sister. And she barely talks to me.”

Literally, that’s all she said.

But she got quite a response from people who gave opinions for both sides.

Apparently, someone figured out Edith’s Instagram and was sending her harassing messages.

I definitely feel awful about that.

However, I refused to reprimand or punish my daughter.

She only said the truth.

My husband is upset as Edith skipped Thanksgiving at our place this year, and he thinks punishing Cecilee will help his and Edith’s relationship.

AITA?

That’s a hard situation to deal with.

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit have to say about it.

According to this comment, everyone is to blame here.

This person thinks she should teach her daughter how to act.

Here’s someone who thinks the daughter was wrong for her actions.

As this person points out, imagine if the situation was reversed.

Great point.

The age gap is quite large.

Everyone needs to have a conversation.

Maybe if they all sit down and discuss their feelings, they can begin to solve the underlying issues here.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.