Co-parenting after a divorce can always be complicated, even when things are relatively amicable. In many cases, extended family can step in to help out with things, including watching the kids.

What would you do if you had planned to take your nephews on a vacation with you, but then their mom got upset and said that if you took them across state lines, she would take you to court?

That is what happened to the couple in this story, so they immediately canceled the tickets for the nephews and decided to go just as a family. The mom then got upset about that and tried to get them to not only bring the nephews, but also pay for her to come along as well.

The drama continued with the mom trying to backtrack and the nephews upset about the cancelled vacation. Was it wrong to cancel the trip, or was the mother the real problem for getting mad about the vacation plans?

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITAH for cancelling my nephew’s vacation as requested by their mom.

My brother is divorced from the mom of my two nephews.

It is mostly amicable but sometimes stuff goes sideways.

My brother has been depressed about his marriage ending the way it did. His ex, Fern, left him for a pastor from their church.

It is always good to help out family.

I have been trying to help him as much as I can.

My husband and I watch the boys so he can work. That sort of thing.

He picks them up when he is done work and spends time with them on the weekends. I think he is doing his best.

His ex has them in after school care when she has custody. She has also had us watch them on her custody weekends. She doesn’t have extended family in our city.

Everything has worked out better than expected.

My husband and I don’t mind since our nephews are close in age to our kids so they are a little pack of hellions together.

Sorry for the long set up.

It is time for him to get back out there.

My brother finally started dating again. It had been five years and I’m ecstatic.

His girlfriend Donna is a medical professional who makes a good living. She is pretty, smart, and very kind.

We have had her over to the house and she clearly adores the boys.

Things couldn’t be going better.

They are affectionate towards her and obviously comfortable with her in their lives.

Donna and my brother have been together for a year now.

For spring break the plan was for the four of us to take the kids to Orlando for the week. My brother had to switch stuff with his ex to get that week’s custody. It was all arranged.

This would be very disappointing.

Then he had a work emergency. He is basically going to be at work for the next month. It has to do with what’s going on in the oil business right now.

We talked it out and the three of us would be taking the kids. We communicated this to his ex.

She went ballistic.

I can see why she would be hesitant, but this is something she needs to talk to the father about.

She threatened to go to court if we took the kids out of state without their father or her. She wanted us to uninvite Donna and bring her instead.

We offered a compromise. She could come along as well. She just needed to pay her own way.

She did not think this was acceptable. She insisted on taking back her custody week.

I feel bad for the kids who can’t go.

So we cancelled the boys flights and park passes.

Our kids each get a bedroom in our suite now. Donna is still coming with us since she had booked a weeks vacation and loves Disney as much as we do.

Now Fern is mad because she thought we would cave. She thought she was getting a free vacation. Or a child free week. Now she gets neither.

These are very reasonable demands.

She has called trying to change her mind but we said that we would need legal documents granting us coverage. And she would have to cover the cost of rebooking the flights. Not all of it. Just the difference between what we originally paid and the last minute flights she would have to book.

Fern says we are punishing her kids for a miscommunication.

I asked her what we had misunderstood.

She couldn’t articulate what it was.

Honestly, everyone should have tried to keep this information away from the kids.

My nephews are disappointed but they know what caused the change of plans.

They know their mom threatened to go to the cops and court if we took them out of state. They know she tried to invite herself along on our dime.

They are mad at her and showing it.

They had no negotiating power. They legally can’t take the kids without her consent.

Fern said we are jerks for just cancelling the kid’s vacation and not negotiating more.

I don’t think there was anything to talk about. I don’t want to deal with cops or court. She threatened both.

We simplified our trip and will have a blast and Donna agreed to watch the kids a couple of nights so my husband and I could have some alone time. She is an amazing and loving woman who is a blessing for my brother.

So, I personally know exactly why things went down this way, and I don’t think we are the jerks but Fern disagrees and thinks we acted too hastily. Who is right? AITA?

It is pretty obvious that the mother was trying to take advantage of the situation and get a free vacation out of it. At a minimum, she just wanted to exert control and cause drama. Sadly, many parents act like this after a divorce, and if you put up with it, they will just keep causing problems.

It seems to me that the situation was handled perfectly.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a student who was accused to using too many sources, so he decided the next time to use none at all.

Let’s take a look at what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

She was just trying to manipulate them and is mad it didn’t work.

What else could they do? They didn’t want to get arrested.

They had no power to negotiate. So, they handled it like adults. Unlike the mother.

She played her hand and lost. Now she needs to accept the situation that she caused.

This person is glad the nephews know who is at fault.

Mom got exactly what she asked for, and she is still upset. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Hopefully, this mother learns that she can’t manipulate this very generous family, and she should just be thankful that they are there for her kids.

All of this should have been discussed between the mother and the father, but she needed to make a big deal out of it. Now she has to deal with the consequences. One good thing about this story is that she won’t likely make that mistake again. And if she does, the kids will know exactly who to blame.