When family asks for a favor, it can be hard to know where to draw the line.

So, what would you do if your estranged sister asked your teenage son to babysit her child every week, even though he’s busy, allergic to her pets, and completely inexperienced?

Would you stay out of the situation? Or would you try to convince him not to get involved in the first place?

In the following story, one mother finds herself in this exact predicament and is leaning toward the latter.

Here’s what’s going on.

WIBTA for convincing teenage son not to babysit his cousin

So my sister is a single mother (no father in the picture).

She’s starting a course once per week and has proposed to my 17-year-old son to babysit my nephew (5) from 6 pm to 10 pm, which involves putting him to sleep.

He has no experience babysitting, and it never interested him. She offered to pay him.

She’s a really difficult person. I even suspect narcissism or mental health issues.

We are not on speaking terms right now (after insulting me and lashing out at me for I don’t even know what exactly), and she obviously didn’t discuss this with me.

My son already works on weekends in a grocery store. He has a class early the next day, and he’s one of those people who need to sleep more than 8 hours and dislikes waking up early.

He often tells me that he’s tired.

Her sister tends to lash out at people.

Normally, my 76-year-old mom babysits my nephew, but she has arthritis and trouble walking, so my son is the replacement.

Also, my son stays at my mom’s (15-20 minutes away) because she lives closer to the college than us (another town), so he won’t be going to sleep before 11 p.m. or later.

She might offer that he sleep in her apartment, but she has cats, and he’s allergic.

When my mom was taking care of my nephew, my sister lashed out at her several times if my mom didn’t do things the way my sister wanted (for example, gave him food before sleeping instead of recognizing that asking for food was just an excuse to delay sleeping), and my mom was really upset with her several times.

She doesn’t want her son to be taken advantage of.

I don’t know if my sister will dare to get upset with my son, who has no idea about child-rearing. I’m also worried that she’ll rely on my son way too much (like to babysit her son for some outings too) and ask for more and my son will feel bad saying no.

I just don’t think that being involved with her is a good idea. She can hire a babysitter, but I guess she’s counting on my son feeling bad about ever saying no or bailing out like babysitters do.

Or maybe it’s a power play to show me that even if I don’t talk to her, she will still have a relationship with my son. I just feel like our contact should be very limited, even if it sucks for my nephew.

AITA?

Wow! That sister sounds like a lot to handle.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about him babysitting.

This person thinks it should be up to the son.

Here’s someone who sees her point.

For this reader, her son should focus on his education.

According to this comment, she should tell him the truth and let him decide.

Ultimately, it’s his decision.

However, it sounds like he’s already got enough on his plate between school and his other job.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.