One woman flew across the country to spend a week with her younger sister, brother-in-law, and their three toddlers.

She’s child-free by choice but genuinely tries to be involved—playing, helping out, and even crawling around on the floor.

But after a few days of non-stop tantrums, she started stepping out to get some quiet.

That didn’t sit well with her sister…

AITA for not loving my sister’s children the way she and her husband do?

The past two years I (43f) have traveled to spend a week with my sister (40f) and her family.

She and her husband and have three young boys – a 3.5 year old and twin 2.5 year olds.

It’s about a 6 hour flight, so it’s not a trip I can make on a regular basis.

When I visited last February, it was a great trip.

Good mix of sister time, hanging out with the kids and her husband, a night out, a house party, just all around enjoyable.

Her husband is great and is a stay at home Dad.

My sister works from home and is a successful business woman.

I was genuinely excited to go visit again last month.

Sounds like a fun trip!

I’m not a kid person and I never have been.

My partner and I are intentionally childless and we love our quiet, low key life.

I’m good with kids.

I’ll play with them with their toys, I’ll crawl around on the floor with them, I’m down to do whatever goofy thing they’re into – but for only about 2 hours at a time.

Then I have to tap out and recharge.

I’m also not great with the constant noise kids make.

I understand that’s just what they do, but I’ve got a low threshold for it, especially when it’s the full blown meltdowns.

No kidding.

For the first 3-4 days I was at my sister’s, the three kids were screaming and crying nearly every 25 minutes.

So when the temper tantrums started, I’d go outside or at least leave the room.

At one point, the kids and husband are out of the house and my sister took the opportunity to tell me how she’s disappointed that I “don’t love the boys the way (husband’s name) and I do.”

I said that I do love the boys and I asked if there was something I did or didn’t do with the kids that upset her.

She said no, that I was great with them.

Soooo, what’s the problem?

I asked if she thought I was paying enough attention to them.

She said I was, but brought up my low tolerance for the fits.

I apologized and reminded her that I’m really not used to it and that it’s kind of stressful, so I just remove myself from the situation.

Things kind of devolved from there, but we recovered and the rest of the trip was fine enough.

AITA thinking that my sister’s request is way off base?

I love my nephews, but I don’t think anyone can love children in the way that child’s parents do.

She doesn’t dislike the kids—far from it.

But she’s never pretended to be a full-on “kid person,” and she showed up anyway.

Reddit says no. If anything, she’s an angel. 

And that Sis is a bit delusional.

No one should be expected to love their non-kids like a parent does…

A little grace for different temperaments might go further than demanding identical expressions of love.

This is all pretty awkward.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.