Learning a language is very rewarding, but it is one of those things that nobody can do for you. And more importantly, you can’t cheat at it along the way.

What would you do if your mom asked you to help teach your little sister Spanish, but whenever you gave her instructions, Mom would step in and do the work for her?

That is what was happening to the older brother in this story, so eventually he refused to offer any assistance since it was a waste of time. Now Mom is angry that he stopped teaching his sister, but he feels like he wasn’t teaching her anyway since Mom was doing all the work.

I agree with him. Why waste his time on something like this? Read through the full story below and see what you think.

AITA for stopping helping my sister with her Spanish homework because my mom started doing it for her?

I know Spanish well. Not at a native level, but I studied it for several years.

It is great that he can help his little sister.

I have a younger sister who’s 9 and she just started learning Spanish. She and my mom asked to help a couple of times because they didn’t understand much themselves.

At first three of us sit down together, I’d explain vocabulary, pronunciation and simple sentences and my sister wrote out all the answers by herself. Yes, it took some time, but learning ain’t always easy.

Let’s see where things went wrong.

But over the time, things have gotten weird.

My sister sat with us for five minutes, then started asking for a snack, just looking at her tablet or going to her room.

My mom stayed with me and said something like just tell me the answers and I’ll explain her all later. I was sceptical, but was thinking okay, they are the ones interested in learning the language so why not.

His sister isn’t doing anything; how will she learn?

Then my mom started writing the answers in the workbook herself. She claimed that my sister’s handwriting was sloppy and that the spaces were too small.

I advised my sister to write the answers on a another sheet so she could after copy them. Mom said that homework shouldn’t be such a huge deal and that it would take an eternity. I had to explain that writing is a must for truly learning the language.

He is just wasting his time if he does the homework for her.

Three weeks ago, Mom opened the workbook in the kitchen and asked me to quickly do a page. My sister wasn’t even there. She was watching her tablet in the living room as always.

I said I’m willing to help, but only if my sister sat at the table, tried it on her own first and wrote down the answers herself.

He is doing the right thing not just for himself, but also for his sister.

Mom got offended and angrily said I was setting conditions as if I were a teacher, not a family member.

I replied that I didn’t want my sister to get used to the idea from the very beginning that her job is something someone else does for her.

Mom will realize that this is a mistake when his sister fails all the classes.

I also added that if mom won’t change her attitude towards all this matter I won’t help at all.

But till this day she keeps doing homework on her own anyway and now she says I refused to help family all the time.

AITA?

Learning a language is not something that someone else can do for you. The mother in this story is not doing anyone any favors by letting the daughter slack off. He is right to refuse to help under these conditions.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

This commenter is right, and it doesn’t make sense.

The internet could do this same thing.

It would be stupid to keep trying to help his sister.

Honestly, this is a great idea.

This is the most important question.

What’s the point of helping his sister if his sister isn’t doing the work? His Mom needs to realize that this is a complete waste of time for everyone if she isn’t going to make her daughter do the work.

Homework is not supposed to be easy all the time. It not only teaches you the subject, but it also teaches you to focus and put in the hard work.