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A $200 monthly babysitting rate is supposed to cover labor, gas, and food, not an unlimited pizza budget for a suddenly picky eater.

One aunt has been navigating that gap since her 6-year-old nephew entered a picky eating phase and fixated specifically on cheese pizza, a request she’d been accommodating out of pocket until funds ran low.

When she served chicken nuggets and fries instead, a meal he’d happily eaten before, he cried loudly and refused to eat until hunger eventually won out.

That evening, her brother called furious, accusing her of leaving his son crying for hours and refusing to acknowledge that budget constraints were the actual reason pizza wasn’t on the table.

When she suggested raising her rate to cover the added cost and got flatly refused, she told him to find another babysitter instead, a decision that’s since turned into a full family dispute over whether she’s actually the villain here.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for not buying pizza for my nephew and made him cry about it?

So I (32F) babysit my nephew (6M) (older brother’s 36M kid) every Friday afternoon and full days on weekends and holidays. I get paid $200 a month that is supposed to include labor, gas for roundtrip transportation to their homes, and also food.

This wasn’t always easy money, especially when it came to meal times.

My nephew recently entered his picky eating stage, and it’s been a struggle feeding him lately. He started not liking what he used to eat, so some foods go to waste. His current obsession is cheese pizza, so I’ve been buying pizzas for him since the start of this month.

Well, yesterday, I’ve already had lunch prepared for him.

The nephew wasn’t having it, though.

But he started having a fuss that he wants pizza again. Sadly, I am low on funds for it. For context, I only provide food and whatever from the babysitting fee I get paid. Pizzas have been expensive, y’all.

Anyway, I told him no, we can’t have pizza, and that he needs to eat what we already have. Which were chicken nuggets and fries, something he has eaten and liked before.

This only upset her nephew even more.

He started crying really loud and shouting pizza. I said to him no again, and that he needs to learn about not wasting food. He wouldn’t stop crying, but I wasn’t gonna give in, so I just let him cry.

He cried for a while but eventually ate the nuggets and fries because he got hungry.

So when her brother found out, he reacted in an unexpected way.

Later in the evening, my brother called me and pretty much cussed me out for leaving his kid crying for “hours” and not buying pizza for him.

First off, I don’t think it was for hours, probably only been like an hour.

Second, I explained to him that I already had lunch prepared since I was low on funds for pizzas. He eventually ate them anyway, so it’s not like he went hungry.

Still, her brother takes the kid’s side.

My brother said those are not good excuses and it’s not his kid’s fault that I cannot budget properly.

I said, “Okay, well pizzas are expensive, so are you gonna raise the rates?” He said heck no.

That’s when she decided to put her foot down.

So I said then I should stop buying pizzas since it’s gonna be over budget. I refuse to spend my own personal money unless it’s for a present. He told me I’m being heartless and mean to my nephew.

I pretty much ended the call with, “Then you’re free to find someone else to babysit your kid then.”

Of course, the rest of the family was chomping at the bit to get involved.

This has caused a drama in my family where I am painted as the bad aunt for not feeding my own nephew. My friends are generally on my side, though a few said maybe I could have been nicer with my delivery.

So AITA?

Sounds like her brother has a permissive parenting problem.

What did Reddit have to say?

Her brother is going to find out real quick that an actual market rate babysitter isn’t going to put up with near as much.

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This user also agrees her brother isn’t being fair to her.

The only two solutions moving forward are either a rate adjustment or an apology.

Her brother really doesn’t understand how good he has it.

Nobody should be expected to personally subsidize a child’s food preferences out of their own pocket, especially when they’re already making well below the market rate for a service.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a disabled man who is considering cutting off his friends because they take advantage of him.

Two hundred dollars a month for labor, gas, and food across Fridays, weekends, and holidays? That’s practically nothing.

But for the love of her family, she absorbed the underpayment for years without complaint.

The pizza fight was really the first crack in an arrangement that was never going to be sustainable in the long run.

Good babysitters don’t grow on trees — and eventually her brother is going to find that out.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.