Aunt tells niblings her legos are off-limits, brother calls her a 'spiteful b*tch.'
When this aunt is frustrated with her brother and his kids, she asks Reddit:
'AITA for not giving my niblings gifts since their dad had already stolen gifts from me?'
So I will begin by saying that I (F28) am on the spectrum. I don't really like children and I definitely do not plan on having any. I own my own house and I allow my parents to live in my basement. It is a fully developed suite not a dungeon.
I have an office in my home. I keep boxes of brand new Lego in my office. Building the kits helps me relax. Afterwards I keep the minifigs and I donate the pieces and plans to a woman's shelter so the kids have something to play with.
My brother, his wife, and my niece and nephew have come for a visit and my parents asked me to let them stay with me upstairs so they weren't so crowded. So I said that my brother and sister in law could but that the kids should stay downstairs.
My office has shelves that are full of minifigs just lined up doing their own thing. No rhyme or reason to it. I call it controlled chaos. It's the only thing I let be disordered in my living area.
My brother knows that I had Lego in my office and asked if his kids could play with it because they were bored. I said no. It would drive me nuts if I went to build a set and any piece was missing.
I came home on Sunday from my weekly grocery shop and I noticed that several of my sets were missing.
So I called my parents and asked them what happened. They said that my brother had taken a couple of sets for his kids since they are just toys. I was upset both that he had gone in my office but also gone against what I said and taken my things.
I usually give my niece and nephew nice gifts when they visit. For their birthdays this year I gave each one a Switch. So the family was leaving today and my brother was waiting for me to give them a gift.
I gave them each the sets of Lego that they had opened and played with. The kids seemed happy. My brother was upset because my mom had already told him that I had gotten them a PS5. I found a bundle on sale and picked it up.
I'm keeping it for myself. He asked if there was any other gift and I said no. That he had already taken their gifts from my office.
Now he is upset because his kids didn't get something that I had purchased for them. He said that I'm punishing them for him taking my toys for them to play with and that I'm a cheap and spiteful b***h.
I think his kids got a couple of hundred dollars worth of 'toys' and that's a pretty good gift. Especially since he basically stole them. AITA?
Let's find out.
tatersprout writes:
NTA. You did nothing wrong and it was a good idea to just give the kids the Legos their father stole from you. Legos aren't cheap.
Personally, I wouldn't allow your brother into your house again. And tell your parents to stay out of things. They never should have told your brother about the PS5.
okprofessional89 writes:
NTA. He's entitled. You might want to get a lock for your office door.
It's his job to bring toys for his kids so they don't get bored.
Edited: hopefully your brother learned his lesson and respects your home.
Hopefully your parents realize it's more than 'just toys' to you.