The balance between family obligations and personal grief is a tough one to maintain.

One young woman, still reeling from the loss of her father, was caught in an emotional tug-of-war when her stepmother made a selfish demand that pushed her to her limits.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for refusing to “babysit” my stepbrother during my dad’s funeral?

I (18F) lost my dad three weeks ago.

He was my best friend, my safe place, and honestly, the only parent who really got me.

The rest of her relationships aren’t nearly as strong as the one she shared with her late father.

My mom and I are… strained, and she divorced him when I was 10.

He remarried when I was 13, and his wife “Stacy” (40sF) came with her own son, Adam (9M now).

Turns out, even time couldn’t quite mend her resentment towards her father’s second family.

To be real, I never bonded with them.

Stacy always treated me like a guest in my own dad’s house, and Adam was a spoiled little tornado.

My dad tried to make it work, but I mostly avoided going over once I hit 16.

We were closer one-on-one anyway.

So during the funeral, she was taking it pretty hard.

Fast forward to the funeral. I was wrecked.

I’d spent the night before writing a eulogy and crying my eyes out.

I was trying to hold it together in black heels and waterproof mascara.

Then her stepmother has an audacious request.

Then Stacy pulls me aside literally 15 minutes before the service starts and says, “Hey, could you just keep an eye on Adam? He’s having a hard time and I want to be able to focus on greeting people.”

I thought she was joking.

But no.

She wanted me — the daughter of the dead man — to babysit her son so she could socialize like it was some brunch event.

She refused, first politely, then with more force.

I said no. Politely at first.

Then more firmly when she pushed.

She got huffy and whispered, “You know, you’re not the only one who lost someone.”

I snapped. I said, “You lost a husband of five years. I lost the man who raised me my entire life. You do the math.”

She gasped like I slapped her and stormed off.

This made waves through the rest of the family.

Later, at the reception, she told my mom and other relatives what I said, and now half the family is calling me “selfish” and “immature.”

My aunt even said I “traumatized Adam” because apparently he overheard us and cried.

But she feels validated in sticking up for herself.

I feel bad for the kid, I do.

But I was grieving too.

I didn’t think it was my job to parent her child when I was barely keeping it together myself.

So… AITA?

A funeral should be a safe space to process, not a place to pile on added burdens.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

The step mom was so far out of line here.

This young woman deserved to have her own space to grieve.

During tough times, you have to look out for yourself even if it ruffles feathers.

No one should be expected to be at their best at a literal funeral.

The rest of the family may have been upset, but this young woman’s boundaries deserved to be respected.

Grief has a way of exposing the truth, but not everyone is ready to hear it.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.