Helping family is one thing, but being treated like on-call staff is another.

So when a teenage girl stopped catering to her younger brother’s constant food demands, her mom backed him up and labeled her as the lazy one.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for refusing to make food for my sibling?

I (16F) have a younger brother who, for privacy reasons, I will call Ben.

Ben is an autistic 12-year-old and has absolutely no idea how to make certain types of food, let alone use a microwave properly.

He depends a lot on her, but his attitude is rather demanding.

When I have to watch him, he always demands I heat up something to eat, and my response, though mean, will always be no.

He has been taught to make himself stuff, yet depends on others around him to do this stuff for him.

Her brother knows how to play their mother like a fiddle.

The conflict, though, starts with the fact that if I tell him no while my mother is home, he will run to her about his request.

Depending on her mood, she will make it for him, but if she doesn’t want to, I am required to make him his food.

She doesn’t find this fair at all, but her mother always sides with Ben.

Personally, I do not think I am the AH here.

If I decline my mother’s request, she gets agitated and calls me lazy for not helping him.

She thinks Ben really needs to start learning these skills for himself.

I have taught him multiple times how to make things; he just simply doesn’t want to make it himself because it’s “too hard.”

I do not believe I should have to play the maid for him.

Her brother was getting used to being served, and she was getting tired of being the server.

What did Reddit think?

The mother is really doing Ben a disservice.

It’s wise of this young woman to recognize a better path forward for Ben.

Ben isn’t independent yet, but with some guidance, maybe he could be.

If the mother insists on encouraging this behavior, she needs to be the one to pick up his slack.

You can’t learn independence when you’re this coddled.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.