One person’s grief should never overshadow someone else’s life, no matter the situation.

So, what would you do if you grew tired of watching your younger sister manipulate your father into staying single because she’s never fully had to get over your mother’s passing? Would you mind your own business? Or would you finally speak up and tell her what you think?

In the following story, one older sibling finds herself in this situation and chooses the latter. Here’s what happened.

AITA for telling my sister she wasn’t the only one affected by our mom’s demise and to let our dad live his life?

My mom passed away almost 5 years ago. I was 24 at the time, and my sister was 17. She’s always been treated as the baby of the family by all of us, and she did take our mom’s passing very hard.

According to my dad, she’d have night terrors, and he would go downstairs to get her water. She stayed with him for the first year of her college before moving out.

A couple of years ago, my dad started dating someone, and when he told us, my sister went ballistic, full-on sobbing and begging him not to. The strain led him to break it off.

Now, she’s making a big deal out of Christmas.

The same story repeated once more after that. My dad told me she was young and still coming to terms with it, so he wouldn’t take anything too far.

Since last year, he’s been dating another woman who has two young boys of her own. My dad seems to really enjoy her company. We’ve met her a few times, and honestly, I love my dad and want him to be happy. He’s a great guy, and she seems to make him so.

When he told us he wanted us all to spend Christmas together, my sister had another argument, saying that Christmas with him was supposed to be her safe space, we had memories of us as a family with mom, and asked him to hold off.

After college, her sister plans to move back home.

He said yes, and I knew he would because, of course, he wasn’t going to risk her not coming.

Meanwhile, when talking to me, my sister has been asking me repeatedly if I think Dad is going to marry this woman. I said I don’t know, but if he wants to, then I hope he does.

Last weekend, on the family group chat, my sister talked about moving stuff back to his place. That’s when I learned that she was planning on moving back after she graduates in May, and my dad had agreed.

Annoyed, she told her sister exactly what she thought.

I was so annoyed, she’s pulling the same thing, this is clearly to monopolize his attention and not let his relationship with his girlfriend proceed further. I said as much in the group chat. She said she just wants to move back to be with dad and to the house where we have mom’s memories.

At this, I told her to stop weaponizing our mom’s death and pretending like she was the only one affected and that the rest of us loved her less just because we want to look past the grief. That she was being manipulative in moving back when she had no plans prior to learning about his girlfriend.

My dad kept texting me to shut up, and my sister left the group chat. She sent me a long text chain, essentially calling me an **, and that her relationship with dad is her own. My dad says I crossed a line and should make up with her. His taking her side is what’s hurting me the most.

AITA?

Wow! It sounds like her sister may need some therapy to help get over their mother’s passing.

Let’s see how the people over at Reddit would handle it.

Here’s a good point.

For this person, public call-outs are not the answer.

Here’s what this person would tell the sister.

Perhaps…

Her dad needs to stand up for himself, and until he does, her attempts are futile at best.

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.