Sometimes it is important to take a stand for yourself and not let anyone violate your boundaries.

Imagine your dad remarrying and your new stepmom expecting you to be a free babysitter for her little kids. Would you agree to babysit, or would you refuse?

This guy shares how his blended family expected him not only to share a room with his step-siblings but also to babysit for free.

He refused to do both. Does that make him the bad guy?

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA for telling my stepmother I didn’t agree to be her summer babysitter?

I (17m) live with my grandparents because when my stepmother and stepsiblings moved in with my dad last year, there weren’t enough bedrooms for me to still have my own room and her kids are way younger than me so I didn’t want to share with her boys.

My decision to move out didn’t make them happy but I really don’t care.

He had made up his mind on moving out…

My dad and I argued over them moving in and dad made it clear he wanted her there because he was ready to marry her and that I didn’t get a say since I wasn’t paying the mortgage or bills.

He also said he’d been widowed for 6 years and it was time for him to be happy again for real.

Dad and I fought about my moving out but he gave in because I told him I would be miserable and did not care if that made everyone else miserable too.

I told him he should try to have his room invaded by little kids.

UH OH…

My relationship with dad suffered as a result but I can live with that.

This is better than sharing the room.

My relationship with his wife and her kids doesn’t exist really and I know that ticks her off but she was his choice, not mine.

She can think what she likes.

Things got WORSE!

Now we have a whole other issue because she wanted me to babysit her kids over summer break so she didn’t need to pay for camps or summer care.

The kids don’t have a dad in their lives so she’s got to figure it out for the whole summer.

When she told me to babysit this summer I said no.

That was in April.

She still assumed he’d babysit.

She figured she could convince me but she didn’t.

Summer break came and she’s had to pay for more than a week of childcare already.

My dad mostly stayed out of it but he told me he was upset that I wouldn’t help some of the days. He said it would be a great time to bond with the kids and get to know them and for them to get to know me.

He wasn’t going to be bribed.

He offered to buy me a few things as a form of payment but I refused it.

He told me he was disappointed in my choices about blending our families and he felt like I was doing this because I can’t let go of mom and don’t want to embrace the new chapter of our family.

I told him that’s nothing to do with it but I’m not wasting my summer babysitting.

He brought up my refusal to live with them.

He simply wasn’t going to give in!

And I told him if we had more space I’d still live there.

Then I said maybe not since the babysitting expectation would be worse.

My stepmother called me again and she was going crazy about my stubbornness and claiming it was part of the deal.

I told her I never agreed to be her summer babysitter and I made no deals with her or her kids.

It ticked her off more. And it brought out dad saying I was being rude for no good reason.

AITA?

GEEZ! That sounds exhausting to deal with!

Why can’t the father just accept his son’s choice and move on?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows that a 17 year old needs their privacy and the parents weren’t respecting that.

That’s right! This user has a great response for the step-mom!

This user suggests this kid get a job.

This user knows that these people aren’t family!

Exactly! This user knows that this guy’s parents are being really unreasonable.

Thank goodness he lives with his grandparents!

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.