Imagine growing up in a home where you have a younger sibling who suffers from severe autism.

If you were just a teenager but were expected to babysit your sibling every day, would you be okay with that, or would you be really upset?

In this story, one teenage girl is in this situation, and she is really upset about it.

Let’s read the whole thing!

AITA for being taken aback and upset when my parents force me to look after my disabled brother?

I, (14F) have been looking after my (9M) disabled little brother basically ever since he was born (so around since i was 4 years old.)

When i was younger it wasn’t that big of a deal to me because i would stay downstairs with my family all day anyway and i was a child so i didn’t really understand that my parents were making me look after him.

At 9 (almost 10) years old, he has very low functioning autism and adhd and cannot speak, screams all day, wears nappies, puts objects around the living room in his mouth that shouldn’t be put in his mouth, needs constant care and has since he was born but it’s gotten worse over the years.

She has her own struggles.

I struggle with very poor mental health (i haven’t gotten a diagnosis for anything) and i am not allowed to leave the house by myself by my parents so i usually just stay in my bed all day every day except when i go kickboxing, when i go to guitar lessons, and on saturdays when i go out with my mum.

I also think i may have adhd and autism too but obviously not as severe as my brother, but my parents (especially my dad) do not believe me.

Her dad lashed out at her.

Today i came downstairs to look after my brother for a little while because my mother asked me to, and after a little while of looking after him my (51M) father comes in and complains that the whole day i didn’t come down and ask if he needed help or if he wanted me to look after my little brother for a while so he could have a break.

I felt shocked by this, which may seem like i am a spoilt little brat, but quite frankly, i am a 14 year old child and my little brother, his SON’s care is not my responsibility, it’s his as a parent.

My (49F) mum then comes in and says to me that between me and my (24M) older brother, through the whole summer holidays every day we will be splitting 3 hours of looking after my little brother between us (1 ½ hours each).

She shouldn’t feel like it’s her responsibility to save her parents’ marriage or parent her brother.

She says that if i refuse to do it there will be arguments between her and my father “like there was last time”- referencing to the time they nearly got a divorce because my mother “goes to the gym all day” and “leaves my father to look after my little brother all day”.

She also says if i refuse to do this she will take my phone off of me and punish me, when she knows i have severe somniphobia and have suffered with it since 8 years of age and cannot sleep until very late in the morning most nights and being in my bed without my phone terrifies me.

I was taken aback by this and replied that its not my job to look after him.

And my mum was saying that i have to and then told me to give her a kiss afterwards.

She was quite emotional about the situation.

I went upstairs to my room and just started sobbing (i know this seems like an overreaction but like i said, i am a 14 year old girl and my mental health is very poor and unstable).

I feel like my parents just see me as a babysitter and not my own person.

There was alot more i wanted to argue to my mum about how this isn’t fair and that as a child i should not be forced to look after another child who is severely disabled. AITA?

This is not okay. She should not be forced to look after her brother. He is not her responsibility.

Let’s see what advice Reddit has to offer.

She really needs to talk to another adult.

Another parent weighs in.

This person offers a suggestion.

Another person wishes her luck.

Someone else asks if there’s another adult she can talk to.

She didn’t overreact at all.

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