Imagine growing up with parents who dictate every detail of your childhood including what you wear and what activities you’re in. If you resented them for it, would you also resent your brother if he thought you were the golden child?

In this story, one man is in this situation, and he grew to resent his parents and his younger brother. Now, he’s finally free of them and doesn’t want to help her brother out.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for not letting my brother come stay with me to “make up for being the golden child/favorite child”?

I (20M) have a brother (18M) and growing up he always saw me as our parents favorite kid. And I think a lot of people saw it that way.

But in reality I was the chosen child.

My parents paid way more attention to me and were more involved in my life, but they didn’t like me or anything about me.

Instead they tried to mold me into the child of their dreams while they ignored my brother.

This might be a grass is always greener situation.

We were treated differently and he thinks I always had everything I wanted when I got nothing I wanted.

My parents moved me from public to private school when I was 7 even though I hated private school and liked my old school. They said I needed the best education.

My schedule was filled with extra curricular’s my parents wanted me to take, like football because every young man needs a team sport and the chance to be a star, debate because every young man needs to learn how to hold an argument and fight for what he believes in, piano for the sophistication and swimming because I needed to be more active.

I didn’t like any of that stuff or at least not in that context.

He wishes he could’ve picked his own hobbies.

I live swimming but not competitively and I was forced to be competitive with it.

I had no interest in football or piano and when I asked to play different things my parents ignored me.

Debate just plain sucked and I wasn’t good at it which meant my parents actually paid people to tutor me in debate. And when I asked to drop it they ignored me.

They had a way of not even acknowledging that you spoke even if you repeated yourself over and over.

He also wishes he had been able to pick his own clothes.

They bought me a lot of clothes but they chose everything from my shoes to my socks to the actual outfits.

I wasn’t allowed to wear sweats outside of the gym or practices. Jeans had to be a certain style. I couldn’t wear character shirts or wear fun socks.

Even my underwear was chosen 100% by them and I had zero say.

Most of the time they didn’t even take me shopping for the stuff they just gave them to me.

His parents like to boast about him.

I had obligations to attend their parties with friends where they could show me off and boast about me.

But it wasn’t even really me. I wasn’t the amazing football player who was hoping to go pro like they used to suggest. I hated every second of football and I got more injuries because of it.

Not that they cared.

They were really hard on him about his grades.

All the amazing grades for all the amazing classes I took?

My classes were chosen by my parents, not me, and it was expected I would get straight A’s in everything and win awards.

My brother never saw the time our parents berated me for three hours because I got C’s and D’s when I was 16 because I was so freaking miserable.

But they did. They told me how I needed to pull myself together and they knew what they were doing and I just needed to do what they said.

This is cruel!

Anytime I got something they didn’t like. Whether it was a book they didn’t want me reading or a poster for something I liked but didn’t get to enjoy at home, they destroyed it.

I remember using money someone gave me and buying an Avatar Aang Funko Pop I thought looked cool and I kept it in my room and it took up hardly any space.

They broke it and tossed it in the trash and said it was not the kind of thing I should have.

He finally broke free from his parents.

I graduated with grades my parents hated and we fought that day because they saw I had packed up and was leaving.

When my brother saw me he thought our parents were sending me somewhere cool and he told me to go hurt myself.

In reality I was homeless for a while and landed on my feet once I got a trainee position at my job. I’m only now JUST on my feet and none of it had anything to do with my parents.

I don’t have access to their money anymore and I don’t want it.

Here’s a twist to the story.

The other week my brother called and he said he was moving in with me and I needed to tell him where.

I was like wait what and he started yelling and he told me mom and dad’s golden child doesn’t get to say anything but yes because I need to make all those years where I was the favorite up to him.

I told him all the stuff I said here and repeatedly reminded him none of that was true and that the times I brought stuff up to him before I was not lying.

His brother thinks he’s lying.

He told me he didn’t believe me and said I needed to stop pretending and I’m an AH if I won’t help him because he deserves that and more from me.

But I won’t let him stay just to treat me like garbage and I told him that.

And all he said was I was a spoiled jerk.

AITA?

I wonder why his parents treated these brothers so differently. It doesn’t sound like either one of them had a good childhood. I also wonder why the brother wants to move in with him. Did the parents kick him out?

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This is probably true.

Here’s an interesting idea!

It’s odd that his brother is acting so entitled.

Here’s a suggestion to block his whole family.

He is not obligated to help his brother.

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