It’s only natural for married couples to not hold all the same common interests, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t strive to find common ground.

So when his wife finally met someone who loved the same niche horror films she did, it felt like a win for everyone.

But as the outings piled up, one father realized he’d unintentionally become the full-time babysitter for their growing movie-night duo.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for wanting to be pay for babysitting my own daughter?

My (39M) wife (34F) and I live in a suburban house with our daughter (10F, Emily).

Our neighbour next door (48M, Walter) is a single father with two daughters (14F and 12F).

We have been living here for a little more than two years.

He and his wife have different hobbies.

My wife really likes watching scary movies, but I have never enjoyed them.

I get too scared and end up having a bad time, so I prefer to avoid them.

Her friends sometimes go with her to the more popular ones, but she also likes older, indie, and foreign horror movies.

But soon, a new neighbor moved in that shared this same interest.

She has always had a hard time finding people that have this niche interest, and that is why it was such a big deal when we met Walter and found out he also shares this tendency.

They very quickly started to make plans to watch movies together.

At first, he was fine with sitting movie nights out and just staying home.

I was invited to be a part of this but refused.

I prefer to just stay at home babysitting Emily and Walter’s daughters while they are in their cinephile reunions.

Their movie nights soon evolved, but still, he rejected any invitations.

They eventually started doing stuff outside of watching movies, like going out for dinner.

Walter invited all of us, including the kids, to go with him to a restaurant that a friend of his owned.

I said no because it was too expensive.

I don’t like that kind of place because I feel they are a waste of money, and I didn’t think the kids would enjoy it either.

I insisted on staying with the kids and let the two of them go be themselves.

But lately, babysitting has grown a little old.

This has become a regular thing, and it is in a way a good deal for me because Walter pays for my wife’s dinner, and she can no longer complain about me not taking her to fancy restaurants.

As both their movie and dinner nights have become so common, I have grown a little tired of the burden of constantly babysitting the girls.

Walter explains that he’s grown to trust him looking after his family, but did offer to start paying him.

I talked to my wife and Walter about it, and he explained that he usually does not like leaving his daughters with babysitters.

He says he is really comfortable knowing that they are being watched by an experienced father like me instead of some teenage girl.

He nevertheless agreed that it was too much of a load for me and offered to start paying me a standard babysitter fee each time he goes out with my wife.

His wife, however, was very opposed to this idea.

I thought that was a fair approach to the issue, but my wife was fully against it.

She says I should not be paid for babysitting my own daughter nor the daughters of a close friend of our family like Walter.

It’s turned into a huge source of conflict for the couple.

We have been arguing about this, but she insists on this notion and is not open to change. She even gets mad every time I talk to her about this.

Walter promised me that he will convince her, but he does not seem to have been able to do so either.

AITA?

It’s clear to see there’s quite a few red flags here.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter thinks this father has much bigger things to worry about.

This commenter can’t believe just how in the wrong this man really is.

This user agrees he’s going about this all wrong.

This man may come to regret letting Walter fulfill so many of his wife’s unmet needs.

This man got exactly the setup he asked for.

If this father truly wants change, he needs to stop shifting the blame and start owning his own choices.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.