Babysitting is never as simple as people make it sound.

This woman agreed to watch her sister’s kids only if she was paid up front.

When the payment was canceled, she politely declined to babysit for free due to food and electricity costs.

Now, her sister is calling her selfish and inconsiderate.

Read the full story below for all the details.

AITA for not wanting to babysit my sister’s kids for free?

My sister R (33F) has five kids.

She has four boys and one girl, ranging from ages five to fifteen.

She asked me and my partner to babysit four of the children for the night.

She wanted to go out for the night with her husband.

This woman agreed to babysit her sister’s kids for £120.

She offered us £120 for babysitting, and I agreed.

I agreed as long as she paid us prior to me picking the kids up.

She agreed with this.

She said she’d pay us the day before.

Her sister canceled, but later asked her again if she could babysit for free.

The day before we were supposed to babysit, she messaged us.

She stated she no longer needed us to babysit as she couldn’t afford to pay us.

We said that’s fine and thanked her for letting us know.

We went on with our day.

I later got a message asking if we could still babysit.

This time she asked us to do it for free.

She refused, saying she financially couldn’t afford to take care of and feed multiple kids.

I said I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.

I explained that I can’t financially afford to look after her kids, even for 24 hours.

We’ve babysat her kids before. When they stay, we notice a huge increase in our electric usage.

We also don’t have enough food to satisfy multiple children.

We always use enough electricity for two people, not six.

We always buy enough food for two people, not six.

She explained that if she were financially more stable, she would have no problem babysitting them.

I tried explaining this to her. I told her that any money she gives us for babysitting goes largely toward her kids.

A good amount of it is spent covering those extra costs.

Right now, my partner’s financial situation and mine aren’t the best.

I tried explaining this to her, as well. I said that if we had more income, I would have been more willing to babysit.

That just isn’t the case right now.

Now, her sister is calling her out and accusing her of being selfish.

Now that I’ve said no to babysitting for free, she has called me out.

She said I should do it for free because I’m family. She said that £120 is a ridiculous amount.

She also said she’ll remember this when I next need a favor.

I told her to look into getting a professional babysitter and to see how much they would charge.

I suggested she reconsider whether £120 is a lot for 24 hours of childcare.

AITA?

Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

This person makes a valid point.

Here’s another honest opinion.

Short and valid.

People are saying the same thing.

Finally, this one agrees.

“Because we’re family” doesn’t magically pay the electric bill.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.