NEED TO KNOW
- A woman doesn’t know if she’s in the wrong for wanting to ban her niece and nephew from her baby daughter’s bedroom
- She went on to explain that when her niece and nephew come over, they trash her daughter’s bedroom
- The woman added that there are many other spaces in her home where they can play
A woman doesn’t know if she’s in the right for wanting to ban her niece and nephew from her daughter’s room.
The original poster (OP) shared their story on Reddit’s AITA and explained that her husband’s brother often comes over to their house with his 2½-year-old daughter and 5½-year-old son. OP said she always tries to make their visit fun and comfortable, and added that they have a backyard play area, a living room play area and a basement where kids can run around.
However, every time her niece and nephew are at her house, they go to her 7-month-old daughter’s bedroom and completely trash the room.
“They’ll pull everything off her shelves and make a total mess,” said OP. “What bothers me even more is that their dad goes in there with them, sits down and just lets it happen. They don’t clean up afterwards either, so I’m left to do it.”
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OP explained that she feels like bedrooms are private spaces and that people shouldn’t enter them unless invited. She said she had already cleaned up for them in other spaces in the house and it really upsets her that they go to her daughter’s room and wreck it.
She went on to say that she doesn’t want to come off as a jerk but also doesn’t want her daughter’s room to always be a mess. She asks if she’s in the wrong for wanting to tell them that they aren’t allowed in that room anymore.
Many people in her comments told OP that she was in the right and should tell her niece and nephew that they are banned from that room.
“Tell them flat out they are not allowed in that room. Lock the door. Tell them that if they are not going to clean up after their kids, they need to stop coming over. You are not their maid,” one person wrote.
“Ideally, your husband should be doing this but you don’t mention him or his stand. If he won’t talk to them and make them behave when they visit, refuse to have them visit.”
Another person said that while OP wasn’t in the wrong, her husband should be standing up for her too.
“NTA, but why isn’t your husband saying anything. It sounds like you have a lot of areas for them to play and be comfortable,” the said. “They may have been excited to see the baby’s room and gotten too comfortable.”
“Moving forward tell them that you’d like to keep that space off limits. If they push, you could even say that it is where baby sleeps and you’d like to keep it free from outside dirt and germs.”
A third person agreed and told OP to have her husband facilitate that conversation.
“Get your husband to tell his brother that the kids cannot be in your baby’s room,” the commenter said. “If he asks your husband why, husband should tell him that he allows his kids to make a mess of the room and he does nothing about it. If brother promises to change, he needs to say sorry and that the kids have access to plenty of space.”
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