Parents’ responsibilities to young children shouldn’t be passed on to older siblings.

This teenage boy follows a good bedtime routine for his toddler sibling.

But their mother disrupted this by introducing a tablet to the boy that created constant struggles at night.

Worse, he is being blamed for problems that he never approved of to begin with.

Read the full story below and share your thoughts.

AITA for wanting to leave home over a toddler?

I am 17M. I am the oldest of 5 siblings. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters.

In February, my youngest brother (toddler) moved into my room with me.

I have a 12M brother he should’ve moved in with.

But that’s another story.

This teenage boy watches some TV with his toddler brother to get him to fall asleep.

Anyway, in order to get him to bed, he and I would watch TV in his bed together.

He’s a cuddle-to-fall-asleep kind of baby.

I’d have him to bed usually before 11:00 every night.

During the summer, occasionally, my mother would take him out of my room to sleep in hers for my sanity.

This was nice initially, but it became recurring.

However, their mom started introducing a tablet to the toddler at bedtime.

Eventually, it got to the point where after months of sleeping in my room, he got adjusted to going back to his mom’s room.

This isn’t even where it gets bad. She then introduces a tablet at bedtime.

Again, initially, this was not an issue.

He was distracted at night and it gave me some peaceful time to play video games.

But again, it became a consistent nightly routine, and he got used to it.

Now, the little boy would constantly ask for the tablet and scream to get out of his room.

Now, he wouldn’t go to bed without it, and occasionally, would cry to go to his mom’s room.

Mind you, he didn’t do this when he got adjusted to sleeping in my room.

He now gets away with going downstairs several times a night for whatever fathomable thing—chocolate, food, milk, etc.

He does not need this. He is well fed and only needs to come upstairs with water.

He screams to get out of my room every night.

He wrestles me to leave my room and cries over anything.

Their mom is blaming him for the boy’s poor behavior at bedtime.

The worst part is, I am to blame, according to my mother.

I try to watch his tablet (that I don’t want him having at bedtime) with him.

I try and watch TV with him. I try and play with him for a little to get him tired.

Anything to get him to settle.

But it is now just constant running to leave my room and screaming and crying.

He thinks the boy’s routine worsened because of unregulated tablet use.

I think this is a case of unregulated tablet use along with excess sugar.

But obviously, since I know nothing according to my mother, this is simply my fault.

She says that if we don’t get along, I am going to lose my phone for a week.

I am 15 years older than him.

He doesn’t understand why their mom blamed him.

She says she needs to work in the morning.

But simply, she shouldn’t have gotten him adjusted to doing whatever he wanted.

Or caved in and gave him a tablet, chocolate, or food, or even allowed him to come down for that matter.

Then, this wouldn’t be an issue.

I don’t understand how this is my fault and my hands are tied.

Now, he needs help and advice on how to deal with the problem.

Am I the jerk? Is there something I don’t know or can do differently?

How do I respond to her about it in a way that she could understand, without coming off as rude?

That this dilemma wasn’t caused by me or my lack of bothering?

Please help. Thank you.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This user makes a valid point.

This person gives their honest opinion.

Parentification is abuse, says this one.

People are calling out the mom.

Finally, short and straightforward.

When rules are inconsistent, chaos follows.

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