Helping your family is a nice thing to do when you are able, but you aren’t obligated to do everything that they ask.

What would you do if your stepmom asked you to watch her pets while she was on vacation, but got upset and lied about it when you said you could only do it on weekends?

That is what the daughter in this story is dealing with, and she is hurt that her stepmom is doing this and her dad isn’t standing up for her, so now she isn’t talking to them.

Check it out.

AITAH for refusing to watch my parent‘s pets while they’re on vacation?

This may sound harsher than it really is but I really want to know if my feelings are justified or if I’m just being a jerk.

I might start off by saying that I don’t live at home anymore.

I moved out last June after a heated argument with my stepmother and stayed with my aunt until I started Uni in October.

I now live about a 45 minute drive away from my parents house.

Our relationship has improved since I moved but it is still pretty rocky especially due to unresolved conflicts in the past that keep coming up again.

I tried to talk it through it just turned into a screaming match.

It is nice that she wants to be close to her siblings.

I have two younger siblings, brother aged 4 and sister aged 1 (I’m 20, my dad was young when I came around haha), but it’s safe to say they are the main reason why I’m still trying to visit regularly.

They also have a dog and my stepmother also has two horses in the yard.

Now to the current issue.

Leading to the argument I had a good relationship phase with my stepmom where we were able to talk like normal people would.

That was until she asked me for a favor I couldn’t do and now she’s mad at me again.

Yippie.

Oh boy, she is going to be asking for something.

About a month ago she asked me if I was free at the end of June and I said ˋI don’t know, what do you want?‘ and she said “nothing.”

This was my first hunch.

Two weeks ago she asked me if I’d be able to check up on the pets for 1 and a half weeks in that time.

Everyday while I’m at uni about an hour away.

They want me to drive over to their house everyday to feed the animals and walk the dog.

The drive alone takes me over an hour and I have evening classes to attend to.

Every day.

At the very least they should offer to cover the gas money.

Have they considered fuel prices? “Oh what did you think, growing up is hard, everything is expensive.”

Shut up, my job doesn’t pay me enough for that.

Refueling twice a month is already expensive enough.

But since I’m not a total jerk I came up with a compromise since their departure falls on two weekends, I could watch them on the weekends, but I can’t watch them those five workdays since I’m busy.

Instead of taking that, my stepmother twisted my words to a “no” and told my dad and others.

Absolutely it is a jerk move by both dad and stepmom.

That is such a jerk move in my opinion, since I didn’t say no, but she made me up to be evil.

She also said some things how oh she would be able to manage the pets, the household and kids etc but I couldn’t even do her a favor when I have it so much easier than her.

Girl.

Having pets and children was your decision, not mine so stop comparing your false perfection to my sorry life.

Thanks to my younger cousin who eavesdropped, bless her heart, I caught up on that and confronted my dad about it.

He doesn’t care.

First he defended her, saying that after all they’ve done for me this would be just a little favor in return and that was too much to ask.

I NEVER EVEN SAID NO.

And I told him that and he just said “oh but why do we have to argue about that now, I’ll just take you up on your offer.”

Wow.

I would just back out and let them figure it all out on their own.

I haven’t talked to them since, because I’m still salty about it and kinda disappointed in my dad for never sticking up for me.

Also I wanted to vent here and ask for strangers opinions since I don’t wanna bother my friends lol.

So, AITAH?

No way, stepmom asked for a favor and this young lady offered what she was able.

If that isn’t good enough, she can find someone local to check on the animals.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

This person says to rescind the offer to watch them on weekends.

Yeah, fuel costs is the minimum.

This isn’t fair to her or the animals.

Pet-sitting is a lot of work.

Yup, they need to learn to take no for an answer.

These parents are making a ridiculous demand, she is right for putting in boundaries.

If they don’t appreciate her offer, they can find someone else.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.