His Parents Booked an Extended Family Theme Park Trip and Demanded He Babysit His 6-Year-Old Brother—Then Accused Him of “Selfishness” When He Refused to Cancel His Prior Plans
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Plans made in advance are supposed to count for something, but one teenager found himself defending that basic idea against his own stepmom.
He already had commitments with his friends locked in for the week when she asked him to take his younger stepsister to a theme park instead, since a last-minute work issue meant she could no longer take her herself.
He explained that canceling on his friends with only two days’ notice felt flaky and unfair to them, which only escalated the conversation into accusations about not doing enough for family.
You’ll want to keep reading for this one.
AITA for not wanting to take my sibling to a theme park when I was going to go out with my friends?
My (16M) stepmom (43F) was going to take my stepsister (9F) to an amusement park this week, but she can’t because she has something wrong with work, so she told me to take her to the theme park instead.
The problem was, this teen already had plans.
I already told her I’m going to meet up with my friends (19 and 17M, doesn’t really matter), and she told me that I can go out with them anytime, so I should just reschedule, since she already told my sister she was going and booked the tickets.
So he pushed back on his stepmother more, but she didn’t seem to care.
I told her I promised I would come with them, and it’s flaky to cancel on them two days in advance.
She then started going on about how upset my sister will be, and giving me crap for not wanting to do a good thing for her, for family, whatever.
Going to the amusement park wasn’t a good idea for several reasons.
I said I hate amusement parks and rollercoasters, and then she kept saying that in that case all I have to do is sit by the side and wait for my sister while she goes on the rides, when that’s just clearly not the point, and it would make for a crap day sitting in 40c weather waiting around on a bench somewhere.
Still, the two couldn’t reach a resolution.
She said that’s sometimes what you have to do.
Basically I refused and she continued ranting.
Sounds like neither party is going to budge here.
What did Reddit have to say?
His stepmom just isn’t understanding that you can’t flake on friends last minute.
Why can’t she just take her child to the amusement park herself?
This user points out that doing the favor would mean a lot to his sibling.
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He shouldn’t feel pressured to clean up someone else’s mess.
He already had plans, made in advance, and canceling two days out on friends because his stepmom double-booked herself isn’t really his problem to fix.
The whole “just sit on a bench for hours in dangerous heat” suggestion isn’t a compromise, that’s just asking him to ruin his entire day for something he never signed up for.
Saying no to sweating it out on a bench all day isn’t him being selfish, that’s just a normal person not wanting a miserable day.
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