Imagine being single and working from home.

If you had a friend who had two kids and sometimes needed a babysitter, would you be happy to help, or would you want nothing to do with babysitting?

In this story, one woman is in this situation, and she is happy to help, at least, she was until her friend started taking advantage of her kindness.

Now, she wants to establish some boundaries, but she also doesn’t want to lose her friend.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for refusing to keep babysitting my best friend’s kids and basically feeding them every week?

I 26F have best friend 27F since high school. She has two kids 5 and 3. I love them, and before this all blew up, I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them.

Over the past year, Lilly has been relying on me more and more for quick favors that slowly turned into full childcare.

At first it was Can you watch them for an hour while I run to the store? Then it became Can they just stay with you until dinner?

I’m exhausted. And recently it is I’ll drop them off before work. You’re home anyway.

Lilly is asking too much.

For context I work from home. I don’t have kids. I’m not their emergency contact. And I’m definitely not financially in a place where feeding two extra children multiple times a week is easy.

The thing is, Lilly never packs them food ever, no snacks, no diapers half the time. And when I ask, she says her budget is tight and she figured I already have food in the house.

Which is true, but it’s my groceries. I’m already stretching things for myself.

She tried to establish boundaries.

Two weeks ago she dropped the kids off without even asking while I was in the middle of a meeting. Just knocked, waved, and left.

I ended up having to feed them lunch and miss half my workday.

That night, I finally told her we needed boundaries. I said I can’t babysit unless I agree in advance, and she needs to send food or money for meals.

She got really cold and said she thought friends help each other and that she doesn’t have anyone else. Then she accused me of acting brand new because I’ve helped before.

Then her friend tried to manipulate her.

A few days later, she sent a long text saying she feels abandoned, that I don’t understand how hard motherhood is, and that it must be nice having a child free life while my best friend is struggling.

Trying to blackmail me emotionally and all and I’m honestly not having it.

Now she’s barely speaking to me unless it’s passive-aggressive.

She does care about the kids and her friend.

Our mutual friends are split some think she’s using me, others think I should be more compassionate.

I feel awful because I do care about her and her kids, and I know she’s overwhelmed but I also feel like she’s crossing so many boundaries that I’m basically a free nanny and meal plan at this point.

So AITA for refusing to keep babysitting and feeding my best friend’s kids?

Dropping off the kids unannounced is not okay. Boundaries are important and should be respected.

Let’s see what advice Reddit has to offer.

Her friend really is taking advantage of her.

Boundaries are super important.

This person makes several good points.

Her friend isn’t acting like a real friend.

Friends don’t force their friends to be free nannies.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.