'AITA for telling my dad I’m not responsible for babysitting his children from his affair?'

A 19-year-old young woman has asked for advice from other Reddit users after she refused to babysit her step-siblings and also had an argument with her father.

The teenager, under the username MelyCute, shared on Reddit’s 'Am I The A*****e' (AITA) forum, that her parents got divorced when she was only 12. 

She revealed that her father cheated on her mother with a woman named Emily, 31, and immediately got married to her. The whole drama also affected her relationship with her father.

Teenager says despite her busy schedule her dad wants her to babysit his children

Now, the teenager’s father is also the dad to his three other children, who are under five, from Emily.

She explained in her post that, “Ever since the kids were born, he’s been constantly asking me to ‘help out’ with babysitting. I live with my mom and go to college full-time while working part-time to cover my expenses. Despite that, my dad calls me almost every week, begging me to come over and ‘bond with my siblings’ by babysitting.”

The young woman also noted that she’s fed up with his requests and she’s “still not over the fact that his affair blew up our family. I’ve told him I’m busy with school and work, but he keeps guilt-tripping me, saying things like, ‘Family takes care of family.’”

Teenager slams her father and reminds him of his ‘responsibility’

Further elaborating, she stated, “Last weekend, he called again, practically demanding I babysit because Emily had a ‘mental breakdown.’ I lost it. I told him, ‘I’m not your backup mom. You chose to have more kids, and that’s not my responsibility.’”

However, instead of understanding her point, her father accused her of acting immature.

“Now, both he and Emily have been sending me messages, calling me selfish and saying that I’m abandoning my family. My grandma even chimed in, saying I should ‘help my father in his time of need,’” she wrote in her post.

The teenager added, “My mom thinks I did the right thing, but now half my family is pissed at me. AITA for refusing to help and saying what I did?”

Reddit users side with young woman

Other Redditors also feel that the young woman did the right thing as one commented, “NTA. You nailed it with the ‘backup mom’ comment. He's using you to take care of his own, new family and it's not at all fair for him to ask so much of you while you have your own stuff going on. Actual bonding is fine, treating you like an on-call babysitter is a s****y thing to do.”

Another Redditor wrote, “NTA. The nerve of him to explode YOUR family then expect you to pick up the slack with the new one he went out & created behind your mom's back. Tell him Emily was the answer to all his problems so she can continue to be that. Then tell your grandmother it's not your fault she raised a POS & help out ‘family’ herself.”

“NTA Seems Emily's breakdown didn't impact her ability to text you with nasty comments. You sound like you have enough on your plate with study, work and rest time, if they want a break, they should hire a sitter,” a third one said.

A person shared, “NTA. No, you did not go too far. You went far enough. Those other family members can step in now. Tell them to stop with the messages or you'll block them.”

Another one stated, “Good news, Grandma's stepping up to babysit! NTA.”

“NTA. Seems like all of his problems stem from sticking his little head where it didn't belong. Perhaps they should look into actual babysitters and birth control. Block them both and tell Grandma to mind her own business, your father's problems aren't shit to you,” a comment read.

Another comment added, “NTA you are under no obligation to watch his HIS kids with his mistress. You have made it very clear that you’re busy and not interested in dealing with it. And the all th guilt tripping they can shove it cause they talk about family but I don’t see the grandma stepping up or anyone eles in the family stepping up I would ask them that. And on a side note the kids are innocent in all this so I hope you treat them right if you ever decide to ever deal with them.”

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