A home should be a safe haven, not a minefield threatening to explode at any moment.

In the wake of a family tragedy, one woman’s unruly brother makes her life a living nightmare. But when her mother refuses to take any action to parent him, or stick up for her, she reaches a breaking point.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for telling my mom she did a bad job raising my brother

I (20F) have a 14-year-old brother who has absolutely no respect for anyone around him.

I am bigger in size, and he constantly makes remarks about that — commenting on how empty my social life is, as well as bringing up my own depression.

I still live with my mom, and moving out isn’t quite an option yet.

Her mother lets her brother get away with anything he wants.

My mom caves into my brother’s antics all the time.

He will act out, cry and scream, and then my mom takes him to some kind of event that he enjoys.

There is absolutely no follow-through when he gets punished, whereas when I was his age, if I spoke the way he did, I would have lost every single privilege you could think of.

She tries to pick up the slack and parent her brother herself, but he’s nothing but cruel in return.

I try talking to my brother and figuring out the real root of the problem, but he can’t have a single conversation with me without taking a jab at my weight and appearance.

I also want to note that my father passed away four years ago. My brother’s behavior was always nasty, but I think it worsened after that.

So anyways, my brother comes home and he’s telling me that the dogs got into the trash and I needed to clean it up.

This time, she tries to stick up for herself, but ends up just getting ganged up on.

I tell him that he should do something around the house for once in his life (he never cleans, he can’t wash his own clothes), and so he calls my mom and tells her what I said.

My mom yelled at me, saying that I shouldn’t be telling my brother what to do.

I told her if she hadn’t done such a horrible job raising him, then this phone call wouldn’t have even occurred.

This was about a week ago, and things are kind of awkward between the two of us.

She doesn’t feel bad. In fact, this reckoning has been a long time comin’.

My mom has done absolutely nothing about my brother’s behavior for years, and I am beyond fed up with how disrespectful and rude he is.

I don’t expect him to treat me like a professional or someone with higher ranking — I just want him to see me as his sister and not his punching bag.

AITA?

She’s not asking for much here — just a little respect.

What did Reddit have to say?

Tension is a helpful signal that something needs tending to. In this case, it’s the mother’s relationship with her daughter.

If nothing else, her family’s terrible behavior can be a motivator to help her gain more independence.

The only way out here is, well, out.

If her brother’s behavior doesn’t shape up, it could lead to even bigger consequences, both for himself and for society at large.

No one deserves to be their family’s punching bag.

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