Everyone is entitled to their own private space, regardless of their age.

So, what would you do if you were letting your friend’s kids play in your child’s playroom while she was away, but the other kids messed everything up and upset your child? Would you keep allowing it to avoid awkward conversations? Or would you set a boundary to protect your child’s space?

In the following story, one mother finds herself in this exact situation and is torn about what to do. Here’s what’s going on.

AITAH for not allowing kids to play in my daughters playroom when she’s not there

We have a playroom next to the living room that holds all my daughters’ toys, crafts, etc. She doesn’t have any toys in her bedroom, so this is really her space. She plays in it by herself (only child), and when we have play dates.

I’ve always allowed other kids to use it whenever I had moms over with young kids, and my daughter was in school.

Now, it’s gotten to the point where she gets very upset when she comes home, and her playroom is either a mess or things she’d been working on/building have been destroyed, things have been taken out of packages, beads have been scattered, her drawings have been scribbled on, you get the point.

Now, she’s nervous to change the rules.

I feel bad not to have taken this seriously before but now she’s 7 I feel this needs to change. I need to respect her space and her things.

To be honest, if someone went up to my bedroom or office and rummaged through my things, I would be pretty upset too.

Unfortunately, the only way to do this is not allow access to the playroom while she’s not there. Since the playroom has always been the place where the kids would disappear to, I’m panicking about how to handle this (and possibly lose friends).

AITA?

Eek! It’s easy to see why she’s upset, but it is her daughter’s room.

Let’s see what advice the readers over at Reddit have for this anxious mom.

This person thinks she should’ve stopped it long ago.

Yet another person who thinks the mother is in the wrong.

According to this comment, she needs to set a boundary.

For this person, her friends will understand, or they were using her anyway.

It’s time to speak up, because it’s her job to protect her child’s space and belongings.

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.