Reddit Stories - REQUESTED my ADOLESCENT STEP-SIBLING to oversee my children for a single day in

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #parenting #stepfamily #familydynamics #childcare #teenresponsibilitySummary: I requested my adolescent step-sibling to oversee my children for a single day. While I believed it would be a manageable task, I faced unexpected challenges. The experience prompted me to reflect on the responsibilities of young teenagers and the dynamics of our blended family.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, parenting, stepfamily, familydynamics, childcare, teenresponsibility, familyissues, siblingrelationships, blendedfamilies, youthresponsibility, parentingadvice, stepchildren, familyconflict, dailyparenting, adolescentchallenges, caregivingBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6816713/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.

I hope you enjoy this story. Requested my adolescent step-sibling to oversee my children for a single day in my absence for work, only to return and discover that she had confined my daughters within their chamber. All night and through a house party. Okay, so recently, I, 32F, hired my stepsister to look after my kids for one day while I would be away for a client meeting. I left at 7 in the morning, and I came back home at around noon the next day. Janine, my step-sister, is around 17 and my kids are 8 and 6 years old respectively. I have two daughters, and they're both quite introverted by nature, so they are really not

much trouble to deal with. It was quite an easy task, so I trusted her, because she offered to help me out after I called my dad. My usual babysitter had bailed at the very last minute for some personal reasons, and this client was very important for the company, so I was in a tough spot. I had called my dad to ask if he would be able to look after the kids for one day, so I would drop them off at his place, but unfortunately, even he was going to be out with friends because he had already made plans.

And then, I guess Janine had overheard the conversation, and she offered to look after the kids. I was a bit skeptical about it, because honestly, I don't really have much of a relationship with her or her mother. My dad married Janine's mom about two years ago, after dating for three years. By then, I was already an adult, and I had moved out a long time back. So I never really spent much time with them, and we just had a very formal civil relationship, so that was it. But since I don't have any other options, I decided to take her up on her offer, since she said

that she was going to babysit for free and she seemed earnest on the phone. So I decided to trust her and left my children in her care. I did check up a couple of times during the day, but after the meeting, I was too tired, so I just hit the hair pretty early and then the next day, I came back home as planned. When I came back home, that's when I started feeling that something was a bit off, because as soon as I pulled up in the driveway, Janine made her way out of the house. She returned the keys to me and practically made a run for it, so I knew that something was wrong because she left before I could even enter the house.

And of course, as soon as I let myself in, I realized that my house had been trashed. I'm reasonably well off, so I have a lot of nice things. but everything was so dirty and disgusting when I came back that I couldn't even recognize my own living room. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Every single room in my house had been treated the same way, and I might not be a teenager anymore, but I can recognize the telltale signs of a high school rager. My kids greeted me, and thankfully, their room had been spared, but when I spoke to them, they just confirmed what I had already figured out by then. They told me that for the entire evening, the day before, Janine had locked them in their room and had only opened the door to give them

their dinner and some snacks. And she had just left them with an iPad and shut them in for the rest of the night. They said that Janine had invited a bunch of friends over and had given them a bunch of candy and soda while she and her friends partied. Obviously my kids seemed happy enough, because they really didn't have any idea how wrong any of this was, but I was furious. and worst of all, while I went through my stuff, I realized that a lot of my stuff had been damaged beyond repair. There were a bunch of stains on my couch and carpet, the wallpaper had been scuffed, some of my more fragile decor items had even been broken and they had just been swept to a corner, and overall it was just a huge mess. So it was not just the thing with my kids,

it was also what she and her friends had done to my house, and it just really got to me. It was very irresponsible, and I immediately called my father up and told him everything. He was just as mad as I was, and while I was on the phone, he confronted his stepdaughter about it, and Janine tried to deny everything. But it was pointless because I literally had the proof right in front of me. And not to mention the fact that my kids had told me the truth already, so there was no running away from this. I was very upset, and so was he, and I even did the math and I told him that this was going to cost them around five grand in damages, because she was definitely going to have to pay me back. It's not that I couldn't afford to replace all the stuff

on my own, but it's about the principle of the thing. And my dad told me that he was going to make sure that it came out of her pocket, because that was the only way to make her realize what she had done was wrong. I thought it was perfectly fine and justified, but since then, his wife and Janine have been crying crocodile tears about how heartless we are being. Because right now, the money is going to come out of Janine's pocket money, and whatever she cannot afford to give away, her mom's going to have to cover for that. I don't think there's anything very unfair about it, but they claim that it's a huge amount of money, and as a family, we should just forgive and forget. But I don't really consider them my family, and even if I did, I don't think I would be able to

forgive and forget something like this. It's a big deal for me, and I think that they are being unfair by trying to play the victim right now. Not this to me, but also. so to my father, because they've been bothering both of us about this. So now Ida for demanding that my dad's wife and step-sister pay me back for the damages they had caused in my home? Edit, hi, so to answer everybody's questions, the reason I couldn't ask anybody else to babysit was because first of all, it was a Saturday and my friends were all busy. I can't exactly expect them to cancel their plans and prioritize me, no matter how close we are, it's unfair. And as for my husband, I don't have one.

Unfortunately, I lost my husband in a car accident two years ago and since then, his family has also not kept in touch with me. My mom lives in another state, so I obviously couldn't ask her. And I just didn't really think much about it, it was very last minute, and I was desperate to have a babysitter, and before any of this happened, Janine had always seemed to be a level-headed kid. Granted, we were never very close, but it's not like I had had any terrible experiences with her, which would have put me off of getting her as a babysitter. Like I said, we had a formal and civil relationship, and we got on well enough, so I didn't think anything like this was going to happen.

That was my bad, and I've learnt my lesson now, and that's all I can say about this right now. Update 1, hi, so one week has passed since I posted and I decided to talk to my dad about his wife and stepdaughter's behavior. Because after my dad had told them that they had to pay for the damages, they had constantly kept texting me trying to guilt-trip me, and I'm pretty sure that things at his house had also been pretty tense. They had kept it up for almost three to four days, but for the past few days, I hadn't heard from them. However, they also hadn't sent any money my way, so I was very confused as to what was going on. And for the past two days, even my dad had not been very responsive,

so I decided to call him up today and when he picked up, he instantly apologized for being so distant for the past two days, but then he explained that things at his house had been pretty bad for the past couple of days. He explained to me that he was unavailable, mostly because he was trying to deal with the chaos at his house, since speaking to me had clearly proved to be pointless and so Janine and her mother had taken it upon themselves to play the victim to the best of their abilities, even though they were not. For the past two days, Janine and her mother had been fighting with him every waking second of the day. Every second that he would spend at home, he would have to listen to them, whining, ranting, screaming, and shouting, and doing everything in their power

to make me the bad guy here. They have been accusing him of always siding with me, prioritizing me, and never caring enough about them. I don't even know where that comes from, because for as long as they have known me, I have been an adult, I've never even stayed with them. I was already in my late 20s when they first became a part of my dad's life, I was living on my own, I was already a mother and a wife, and I've always been pretty independent. So this accusation, that my father had been criticizing me more than them, doesn't even make sense. How would he even do that? Even if he wanted to.

I never took money from him, I never overstayed my welcome whenever I would be visiting, and we have our own separate lives. The only thing that we would try to do was just at least have lunch or dinner together, just the two of us and my kids, at least two or three times a month. And that was something that we have had as a ritual for the longest time, even before he met them, so that has nothing to do with them. And I think this is the bare minimum that we can do for each other as a father and daughter. Whatever it is, I just think that their accusations are extremely unfair and they are just trying to cover up for themselves. They want an excuse to make us the bad guys, so that they don't have to pay the money, and I don't think that I'm going to allow that to happen. So when my dad told me about what

they were saying, I told him that it's about time that I speak to them myself, because I can't let them behave like this and get away with it. They have no right to say such things about us, especially when they are at fault here. I wanted to give them a peace of my mind quite badly, but then, my dad told me that right now, he wanted to handle the situation himself because it was quite delicate. So he told me to just give it a few days, and he would try to deal with it himself, but if that doesn't work, then I was free to step in. Because ultimately, this is my money at stake here. No matter what is going on between them, it's not fair to me to keep waiting and he knows for a fact that what they are doing right now is just trying to delay the inevitable.

Update 2. So it's been four days since my last update and I've kept in touch with my father. I knew that he was having a hard time dealing with his wife and Janine, so I kept checking in on him every night, just making sure that he was not getting too stressed out. And I knew that he was trying to put on a brave face for me, but he was hurting for sure. They had been fighting nonstop, and I actually felt really bad for him, to the extent where I thought that I could put an end to all of this by just taking back what I had said, because it's not like money was a problem for me. It was just the principle of the thing that bothered with me, but if he was really hurting that much, I didn't want him to feel like that constantly, so I even told him that I could talk to his

wife and Janine, and I could take back what I said, and then the problem would be solved. But then again, he and I are two alike, and even he said that it would be a temporary solution, but then, this is not something that can be worked out like this. He needs them to acknowledge the fact that what they are doing right now is messed up, and Janine needs to take accountability for being irresponsible for the one day that I had put her in charge of my house so she could babysit my kids. And until that happens, he can't just let me take back whatever we said and pretend as if everything is fine, when it's clearly not. And he had a point, so I didn't know what else to say, so I've just been trying to be there for him in general. I knew that he had been sleeping in the guest room,

and he's not a very confrontational person in general, he's not very good at screaming and fighting and getting all emotionally worked up. He likes to work things out civilly and I know for a fact that he's no match for Janine and her mother right now, because they are the exact opposite of him. They like to scream and shout and get their way and usually, I know that they're not. I know that he's that it gets too overwhelming for my dad, and it's infuriating for me not to be a part of any of this, to be able to defend them, but I know that that will only make the situation worse. So I've been trying to let him deal with this the way he wants to. But I have decided that if this goes on for a few more days, then I might tell him that he

should probably start talking to a lawyer because I can't believe that Janine and her mother are making such a big deal out of just five grand, which they only have to repay me because of the party that she threw in my house, which she didn't even have explicit permission for. It's very weird to me that this woman is willing to jeopardize her whole life the way she has it, her marriage and her relationship with my father, just over five grand. She and her daughter are so desperate to prove that they are right, that they don't care that they're going to lose out on so much in the process. They really don't seem to care about the fact that they are hurting my dad,

and it seems very strange that they can treat somebody that they claim to love like this. If I was in that position, even if I didn't think that I was wrong, I would have just gotten it over with, just because I did not want to drag it out since it was hurting somebody that I love. My dad has always tried to be a good husband, since he couldn't be one to my mom the first time around, and they ended up divorced when I was just six years old. He and I have always been very close, and he did confide in me that this time around, he wanted to do it right. So I know for a fact, that means a lot to him, and that's a huge part of the reason why he hasn't given up on them already. But right now, looking at the same thing,

situation, I don't think they value him the same way that he values them. And it's really pretty sad, I don't want him to go through this, and it sucks that I'm playing such a huge role in this, but there's really nothing that I can do. If they want to make it work, they're going to have to realize that what they have done is wrong and they're going to have to acknowledge their mistake and make amends for it. But right now, I really don't think that it's going to happen. They seem very unwilling to shift their stance and I think they would rather lose him than this fight. Of course, I can't say that to my dad, because he's still holding out hope, and for his sake, I hope that things work out. Because I know that he really loves his wife, and well,

I want him to be happy. I just don't know what to say anymore. I hope that they are able to come to their senses soon, and they do something about the situation at hand. I hope that they do the right thing, that's what I really want. But anyway, for now, I'm staying out of it. If this keeps going on, though, I don't see how it's going to work out for them and I feel bad, but I might have to advise my dad to speak to a lawyer, even if they are able to manage to sort things out. I don't think I will ever be able to look at Janine and her mother the same way ever because they have pretty much lost all respect in my opinion. Update 3 OK, so it's been a week since my last update and today, my dad showed up at my place after work with his bags and stuff. My kids were obviously

thrilled to see Grandpa, but I knew that something had gone seriously wrong. Like I had said in my previous update, I had been keeping a check on him, and I had been calling him every single day to judge the situation. And even the previous night, we had spoken and he had told me that things were coming under control. He had reassured me that he had been speaking to his wife and Janine, and even though they had been screaming and shouting earlier, they were responding to him a little more civilly now. And he really believed that they could sort things out, and I would get my money back soon enough. At this point, I was not even concerned about the money, I already paid for everything out of my own pocket and I was just hoping that this would

all blow over soon, so the money was not a priority for me. But of course, it's the principle of the thing that matters, and both my father and I knew that, so even though it was not that important, it still was a significant part of things. Anyway, last night, the way he had spoken, I thought that things were finally coming to a conclusion, and even though I was still not sure whether Janine and her mother were ready to apologize or not, I was happy that at least my dad believed that things were going to work out well. But then today, when he showed up, he looked really haggard and exhausted, and I hadn't seen him for a few days now, because he was caught up with work and whatever was going on at home, so we hadn't had the opportunity to meet. And he looked

very different from the last time that I had seen him. So after he was done playing with the kids when he showed up, we got to talking, and he finally told me that even though Janine and her mother had been behaving reasonably enough for the past few days, and had actually led him to believe that they might work things out. Today, they had had another huge fight and this time, he had decided to leave home. He told me that it was getting way out of hand for him to handle, and today, they crossed the line and he was not sure if he wanted to be with these people anymore. He told me that he was willing to talk to a lawyer now, because at this point, there was no going back. At first, he was not willing to tell me what was going on at all.

He kept skirting around the topic. But then, I pushed him to finally tell me and, boy, I have to say, these people are really disgusting. I can't believe that they are prioritizing five grand more than my dad, but it's honestly their loss. So what happened was that today, since he thought that things were going well with them, he brought up the five grand that they owed me, and very gently tried to nudge them in the right direction and said that they should contact me and make some arrangement about how they

should pay me back. All of a sudden, Janine started screaming at him, saying that she couldn't believe that, even after they had tried to talk to him so nicely, he was still bringing all this up. And her mom decided to take her side on that, no matter how wrong she was. She said that she was not convinced that he was never going to change, and that he would always pick me over his family, and when he tried to defend himself, saying that I am his family, too, they started screaming even louder. They started cursing me out. They cussed him out and accused him of being self-centered and stingy, even though he was the one who spent the most money in their household. Janine is obviously a teenager. She can't really pay for anything, but her mom is a working woman,

and even then, she doesn't contribute much financially, thankfully, my dad has a well-established business of his own, so he doesn't really care about money that much, but anyone can see that his wife and Janine go out of their way to protect their own finances and expect him to pay for everything, even though they are perfectly capable of funding themselves and their lifestyle. Of course my dad does it out of love, so he has never brought it up as a favor, but this time, when he was being accused, he decided to defend himself by saying that, and they didn't like that obviously. They did not like the fact that he was not going to stay silent and take this kind of behavior, so they doubled down on what they were saying, and after a while, things got so

so stressful for my father that he decided to pack up and leave. Even while he was packing things up, they said the nastiest things about me, even about my mom, who they have never even met in person. And they really said some horrible things about my father. I don't even want to repeat that sort of language, but just know that it was horrible. He obviously could not stand that sort of disrespect, and he decided to come away, and he has said that he's going to file for a divorce now. Because obviously, there is no way that he can go back now, especially after how he was treated today. And I told him that he doesn't need to go back either. He is perfectly welcome to stay here for as long as he needs, and if he needs my help kicking them out of that house, I'm going to

make sure that that happens as well. But he told me that he just wants to stay away from them right now and he doesn't want to get involved with them in any capacity, so I'm just trying to make things easier for him at the moment. He's very upset, but I'm glad that he's leaving them, because they really don't deserve him. I don't even want that money back. Five grand is really not that much to me. They can keep it for themselves. Update 4. So it's been three weeks since my dad has been staying with me, and it's been nice to have him around. He's been working from home, so he's been looking after the kids when they come back and he's been doing all the pickups and drop-offs. It's really fun to have him around, and we have been reminiscing a lot about my childhood, and most importantly,

the kids are thrilled. They always loved Grandpa and now that they have him around full-time, they are constantly around him and it's a good break for me as well. So things with us have been pretty normal and nice, but it's not been the same for his wife and Janine. I did get him to talk to a lawyer, even though he had been trying to delay it, but I told him that he had to get it done with. And that worked, he spoke to the lawyer. We filed for a divorce. We filed for a divorce. We filed for a and a couple of days ago, they were finally served. And just as I had expected, as soon as they were served, she started trying to get back in touch with him. But even now, she did not think that she should apologize to him. Even now, she was accusing him of overreacting and said that

they could still talk things out, go for marriage, counseling, and try to work it out. And even now, she was trying to make it seem like it was he who was the problem, saying that she knew that I had put him up to this, and I don't even care if she thinks that. I definitely did put him up to this, because I want what's best for my father. He's not getting any younger and I don't want him to be stuck in a situation with them, because clearly, they don't care for him at all. They don't respect him, they don't even love him, and very frankly, they do not deserve my father. So yes, if they think that I'm trying to insert myself into this situation and control it, then I very much am doing so. I don't care what they think. I know that this is for the best, and all along,

my dad has protected me from everything my entire life. He has given me the best that I could ask for. So now, as his daughter, it's my duty to protect him as well. And I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it, so I'm actually happy with my decision about this. Update 5, okay, so it's been a month since my last update, and the divorce proceedings have already started. My dad is still staying with us, but thankfully, he got his soon to be ex-wife and Janine to vacate the house that actually belonged to him. She's demanding a crazy amount of alimony, so that's what they are trying to come to a settlement regarding, but apart from that, they don't really have a lot of joint assets, so it's just the alimony that is a bit of a bone of contention right now. But I'm sure that his lawyer will sort it

all out for him, he's pretty good at his job and we trust him. The last time that he saw his soon to be ex-wife and Janine was a couple of weeks ago, when he had to take back the key of the house from them, and even then, they had been pretty horrible to him. They told him that he was making a huge mistake, and they said that he was going to regret this for the rest of his life. And of course, they couldn't let it go without directing a bunch of it towards me, but my dad did not care. He told me that he was happier now than he had been before, and he told me about a bunch of red flags that had started coming to the surface right after they got married, but he had ignored them because he loved this woman. However, the thing with me turned out to be.

be what he needed to take off the rose-colored glasses, and he's glad that he chose to get divorced, because he wants to spend the rest of his life peacefully. So right now, I think this is what works for all of us. I'm happy, my dad is happy, and the kids, and that's all that matters to me honestly.