Helping family is supposed to feel rewarding, but sometimes it comes at a quiet cost.

One woman offered free childcare to support her struggling sister, but when she faced pressure that threatened to burden her own daughter, it put her in an uncomfortable position.

Read on to find out how it all played out.

AITAH for letting my daughter go on playdates or other activities when I am babysitting my niece?

My sister has had to pick up more work and needs help with childcare. So I have been helping her out by watching her daughter (F5) so my sister can pick up more shifts.

Her niece loves her daughter, but her daughter often has other plans.

My niece will have a good time if my daughter (F9) is here to play with her. A lot of the time, though, my daughter will have playdates or other activities, so she won’t be around.

And without her daughter there, her niece isn’t as happy.

My niece then gets bored here without my daughter. I am not able to entertain her as I work from home and am usually still on the clock, but available for emergencies and to keep a general eye on things.

Of course, her sister catches wind of this and starts putting pressure on her to make sure her daughter is home.

My niece will always ask for my daughter when she’s here and be disappointed when she’s not. So my sister thinks I should keep my daughter home from playdates and other things when I am watching her daughter.

But she feels like this would be a disservice to her daughter.

However, I feel like that would be disappointing to my daughter, as I know she loves going to these things and spends enough time with her cousin already.

AITA?

She tried to make things easier at first, but it only ended up making things more complicated.

Redditors chime in with their two cents.

This commenter doesn’t think it should be the daughter’s obligation to stay home for her cousin.

There’s a clear distinction here that’s worth paying attention to.

To make her daughter do this would just be a disservice to her.

There has to be a better alternative here.

People often say it takes a village to raise a child, but they rarely mention just how messy that village can get.

Ultimately, she realized the real problem wasn’t her own efforts, but her sister’s unreasonable expectations.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.