There are some occupational hazards when it comes to having kids around.

Things might get broken, or sticky, or things spilled on them.

You might even expect that sometimes, things mysteriously vanish, only to turn up in the child’s possession.

But what you don’t expect is for the parent of the child to neglect to give them back.

That’s what happened to the aunt in this story, who decided to sort the matter out once and for all.

Read on to find out what she did that caused her family to unite against her.

AITA for holding onto my niece’s belongings until my things were returned?

A few weeks ago, my sister and her daughter came over for a visit.

We had a nice time — the adults chatted in the kitchen while the kids played in the living room.

I collect small ceramic figurines and display them on a shelf. They aren’t worth much, but they’re special to me.

Uh-oh. Read on to find out what happened to the figurines.

A few days after their visit, I noticed some figurines were missing.

At first, I thought I had misplaced them, but then I saw a photo on social media that my sister posted — one of my figurines was sitting on a shelf in my niece’s room.

I messaged my sister and asked if they had taken them by mistake.

She said her daughter probably took them because she liked them and promised to bring them back next time.

But her sister did not follow through with her promise.

When they visited again, the figurines didn’t come with them. My sister said she forgot.

By then, I was more annoyed than anything.

After they left, I gathered up all the little things my niece had left behind during previous visits — some toys, notebooks, and hair accessories — and gave them to my sister’s friend who works nearby.

I asked her to return them only after I got my stuff back.

Let’s see how her sister reacted to this.

That evening, my sister called me, clearly upset.

She said I was being petty and that I shouldn’t drag kids into adult problems.

I told her that if her daughter was old enough to take things that didn’t belong to her, she was old enough to learn that actions have consequences.

The next day, my sister showed up with not only my figurines but also a few extra ones that weren’t even mine.

But this didn’t solve their problems.

I returned them all and gave back her daughter’s things as well.

I told her that in the future, I expected her to handle things more seriously if something like this happened again.

Now my sister is mad and says I overreacted. My mom thinks I should’ve just had a calm talk instead of making a point like that.

AITA?

She’s right: actions do have consequences, and her niece shouldn’t be taking things without permission.

But this is the mom’s role, to show the child the difference between right and wrong – and it seems the mom failed on that role.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

This person thought that the aunt had been entirely reasonable.

And others with experience praised her choices.

While this person pointed out what would happen if the niece’s behavior continued.

Sure, it’s not very nice having your belongings withheld from you.

Which is exactly the point that this aunt was trying to make.

She taught her niece a valuable lesson – which is more than can be said for the mother’s behavior.

This girl needed to learn.

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.