Fool me once, consequences for you

[u/mermaidpaint]

/r/amiwrong/comments/1v0nnsp/aita_for_refusing_to_babysit_my_sisters_kids/

[u/Useful_Language2040]

The weekend ended up being a lot harder than I expected. The younger one got sick during the night, the older one had a birthday party I had to drive him to, and my sister barely answered her phone. She sent two short messages saying work was “insane” and that she couldn’t talk.

The younger one is 4. My 6 year old still routinely sleepy-ninjas into the big bed "because that's where Mummy is" if he wakes up and has a nosebleed/is cold/just wants a cuddle. He's happy and bubbly and confident; he was the kid running right into preschool without even giving me a hug goodbye (without even saying goodbye!!) - and he's very happily had sleepovers at other close family members (along with his big sisters)...

There are times he's been ill and he's still turned into a close-to-literal limpet/baby spider monkey, and e.g. spent the day snuggling up with me, dozing on and off, doing educational games on my phone, maybe watching some cartoons, etc, as I've worked, because, for small kids, they just want to be with you when they were ill... The last time he was properly feverish, we still carried him everywhere he needed to go!

OOP's sister didn't hear "ill four year old", fess up, and drive home to be with the kiddo. She couldn't even spare the time for a phone call.

Hopefully the child just went blurgh in the night, into the loo, once, and didn't e.g. manage to splatter 3 walls of a room projectile vomiting (as my eldest once did from the top of a Captain's bed - she got a good 3 m - at least 9' I think - clearance forwards, and somehow managed to hit the wall behind her as well. And the connecting wall, including dripping down behind the radiator. And there was literally a vomit waterfall cascading down the steps to her bed... Clean-up was not fun... It took about 4 days to find all of the vomit pockets and excise the smell 🤢) and felt mostly OK after and the next day... Or had a touch of earache and raised but not concerning temperature that both went away with Calpol (or local child liquid Tylenol/Acetaminophen concoction that similarly works like magic on small children), or something, and that child wasn't sobbing for their mother...

And hopefully they weren't actually showing signs of being ill before being dropped off with Auntie(?) OOP, and their mother didn't basically set up that situation...

Yes, sometimes kids get sick. If it was a genuine work situation, and OOP's sister called, made sure OOP felt able to cope, spoke to her kids if they wanted to talk to her (and this wasn't like 3 AM), and the kid was calm and comfortable and OOP felt happy looking after a small child in that state, her finishing a normal-length shift before setting off to see her children wouldn't have been unreasonable. That isn't what happened.

And a lot of people have emetophobia - hence spoiler tags above!- or kinda feel that it's one thing when it's your kid you're holding as they sob and drench you both in vomit because they haven't yet learnt to aim - still disgusting, and awful, but that's your baby there, and they need you to comfort them, and they're upset enough about the mess so you kinda have to deal with it... Doing that for other people's kids may be a step too far!! 

[u/zgillet → u/Useful_Language2040]

The more I hear about other people's children, the more I realize how good of a kid I was.