Sometimes being the “helpful” one in the family only gets you blamed when things fall apart.

So, what would you do if your sister-in-law said her toddler didn’t love her anymore, and then accused you of “stealing” that love just because you calmed the child down? Would you apologize when she started yelling at you? Or would you stand your ground and walk away?

In the following story, one teen finds herself in this situation at a family dinner. Here’s what happened.

AITA for taking the attention/“love” of my SILS baby?

I (17F) have a brother (31M) who is married (32F).

They have a daughter, my niece, who is two.

Lately, my SIL has expressed to me and my brother that she feels really disconnected from my niece, saying she doesn’t like to be hugged, talked to, or even looked at by my SIL.

It all started at the family dinner.

I had a family dinner last night, where my niece was having a particularly big tantrum, but everyone was sort of ignoring it, trying to get their food and sit down.

I saw SIL looked really overwhelmed, so I offered to play with and calm down my niece. She immediately just nodded and went to go get food.

I was more than happy to help. I managed to calm her down fairly quickly, and I saw SIL watching.

So, I said to my niece, “Look! It’s mommy, isn’t she so pretty? Do you like playing with mommy, too?” My niece shook her head at this.

She tried to fix it, but the damage was done.

My SIL looked really upset by this, so I went into fix-it mode.

I said, “Why? Isn’t mommy fun? I bet you and mommy have lots of fun, (niece’s name)!”

To this, she kept shaking her head and was now irritated again, so I dropped the conversation and went back to calming her down.

Like, half an hour later, she sort of knocked herself out on the couch after I gave her some food, and I finally got around to getting some food and sitting down.

My SIL seemed kinda upset, so I told her not to worry, and obviously, niece doesn’t mean it.

Her dad walked in and tried to calm the situation.

To this, she sort of got angry and told me I was taking the love her daughter should have for her by playing with her, and that I was rubbing it in her face when I asked, “Isn’t mommy fun?”

I told her this was not my intention at all, that I was so sorry, and I just wanted to help, but she still kept going off on me, so I sort of just let her talk, and I shut myself up.

My dad walked in and heard and told SIL to chill out for a second, which made my brother mad, and then everyone just started fighting.

Frustrated, she needed to get away.

I took this as my sign to just go upstairs. I told SIL we could pick up the convo another time because no matter the situation, I don’t communicate through yelling at people. But I match energy, so if she’s going to continue yelling and screaming, it’s best I just leave for right now.

She just agreed and said I should “**** off upstairs.”

I have not spoken to her or my brother since then and am wondering whether I should reach out to apologise.

AITA?

Wow! It’s easy to see why the sister-in-law was upset, but she should look at this from the outside.

Let’s check out what the fine folks over at Reddit have to say about what happened here.

This person thinks she’s impressive for her age.

Great thought.

For this person, she did nothing wrong.

Yet another person who thinks this is on the mother.

She should give them space. In time, they’ll call her and apologize, or at least that’s how it should be.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.