Imagine knowing your brother’s family is struggling to pay the bills, and Christmas is on the way. Would you be willing to step up and get Christmas presents for the kids? If you did, would you spend as much on his kids as your own kids, or would you spoil your kids a little bit more?

In this story, one man is in this situation, and he buys Christmas presents for his niece and nephew. However, when they go home, he pulls out a few more presents for his own kids.

When his brother found out, he got really upset about it, so now, this generous man is wondering if he did something wrong.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA for buying both my “step” children each a switch instead of giving the 2nd one to my nephews?

I’ve (35m) been with my wife (38f) for 5 years now and married for 1.

She has 2 kids (11f and 8m) from her ex who has 0 involvement since 8m was born and probably never will.

I love them so much, they’re my babies now and Im in the process of making it legal.

Times have been tough.

Last year was tough on my older brother and SIL (both 40) because they were both laid off but so were my wife and I.

I do, however, have a side hustle that because of the pandemic boomed so we are pretty stable now financially (not rich by any means mind you).

They both work odd jobs and we’ve helped them every now and then with groceries and the occasional rent.

They have 3 boys (12m, 12m, 9m)

They had a big, family Christmas.

Because of this, my wife and I decided to host Christmas at our house and invite them, my mother, older sister and her daughter.

Since everyone except for us were struggling, I handled the gifts and gave my nephews some stuff like shoes, clothes, some toys etc while my niece got a $100 gift card.

I spent anywhere between $100-$150 per kid and got both my children similar stuff.

Everyone seemed happy and I was glad to help.

He actually had other gifts set aside for his kids.

Well after they left I gave my kids their other gifts because I didn’t want to do it in front of my niece and nephews.

I got both my kids nintendo switches (they like different games so it doesn’t make sense to only have 1).

Last weekend, my brother dropped his boys over for a sleepover and obviously, they got to enjoy my kids’ games.

Yikes! His brother sounds pretty entitled!

Everything was fine till I got a call Monday morning from my brother who was angry that I was apparently spoiling my kids too much and making his kids feel jealous.

He said I should’ve given the 2nd switch to his kids instead of giving mine one each.

He told me that I shouldve considered their financial status before buying such luxuries for “kids that aren’t mine”.

This ticked me off and we got into a screaming match till my wife calmed me down.

He talked to his mom about it.

This is where I might be the jerk.

My mother called me yesterday and asked me what the fight between me and my brother was about and she told me that while my brother was wrong for saying my kids aren’t mine, I probably should’ve considered the fact that they can’t afford anything atm (hence why I bought his kids essentials as gifts) and I should’ve dialed down on the gifts I gave my children or bought his kids something similar too so they won’t get jealous.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

I know I could’ve got my kids a switch to share between them but their taste in games are very very different and I wanted my children to have something nice since they’ve both been good this year.

AITA?

It’s his money. He seems very generous. He wouldn’t have had to buy his brother’s kids anything. They should be grateful for what he gave them, not demanding more!

Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

This person thinks his brother sounds greedy.

Another person thinks his mom should’ve minded her own business.

This person points out his brother’s logic.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who had to sprint to the bathroom the moment he got home, then emerged to find his partner upset he didn’t greet her properly.

Another person calls his brother rude.

It’s hard to want to be generous when, instead of having your generosity be appreciated, you’re just asked for more and criticized for not doing enough. He wouldn’t have had to get his brother’s kids anything. They need to be grateful not jealous.