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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have finally had enough of this shit?

235 replies

entitledmuch1 · 12/09/2017 02:37

Posting under a name change just in case. But I have finally had enough of my sister and her children and my mum.

In short, they are allowed to do what they like. If they don't they whine. It is so totally scripted. They ask for something. Any hint of a no gets a long whine or a grizzle until they get given what they want.

My mum dealt with us as children that no meant no and that is it. But her "cute" grand-kids are allowed the most appalling behaviour for no reason.

A huge bugbear of mine is respect for my property which is never shown. I have banned them as being guests in my home as my sisters children are in my bedroom, my study, my bathroom cupboards, my fridge, my food cupboards, the lot. They take what they want. One of them took, stood on and damaged the screen of my tablet in my study. My sister sits and watches it and when I finally deal with them myself and shout at the children to stop what they are doing in my home, she sternly tells me not to be mean to them and she will deal them...but she doesn't. So I banned her from coming to my house but I still get it at hers and on family gatherings at my parents.

The little one in particular (they are 3 and 5) is particularly disrespectful of my things. My phone is a target for him and he has been trying to get it for about a year. He knows I wont let him have it and he tries everything to get it. He sits next to me when I need to use my phone, asks what I am doing, are you playing games, I want to play, etc. I just ignore him and put it away when I've finished.

But what drives me crazy is a few times I have caught him taking my handbag and going into it for my phone. The screen is passcode locked so he wouldnt be able to use it but he may break it. I have gone as far as putting my bag high on a shelf and they have climbed on chairs to try and get it. So it isn't me being careless. At 3.5 and nearly 6 they are old enough to understand they are not allowed my handbag and to respect that. They aren't babies.

There are also prescription drugs in my handbag. They are in foil blisters so not in child proof bottles. I need to take them during the day so they need to be in my bag. I finally let rip at my sister last time I caught the 3 year old with my bag and said to teach her children to keep out of my handbag and respect peoples property. She said they were doing no harm. I said there are prescription drugs in there and would she like to risk a hospital trip just because her kids wont leave my bag alone. My sister actually said I shouldn't carry my pills in my bag.......!

So I am not supposed to carry my pills that I need during the day in my own bag and I am just supposed to allow them to go in my handbag?

It has got to the point where her children are deliberately goading me every time they see me about this issue.

They see their mother and grandmother letting them do what they like and telling me to give them the things of mine that they want. Their mother tells me in front of them to let them have it and when I say no, they get annoyed. But because their mother tells me in front of them oh let them have it, they see it as a game now I think, seeing when I'll give in.

It is EVERY time I see them. There are certain things of mine they want and they KNOW I will not allow them to have but they try every time as their mother encourages me to hand my stuff over. I have to watch my things like a hawk as I know they dont respect things and will take without asking.

It is a horrible thing to say but I actually now cant stand being around the children. I dont actually want to see them anymore. In a way in it not their fault but their mother won't see sense and their behaviour is terrible.

WIBU to back off and just stop going to see them at all?

OP posts:
somewhereovertherain · 12/09/2017 07:16

Attach one of these too your bag.

I'm with you all the way and YANBU

Headofthehive55 · 12/09/2017 07:18

Put your phone in your pocket. Don't check it or get it out whilst you are there.
Buy a small over the opposite shoulder bag and put keys and tablets in there. Nothing else.
Wear it all the time.
Turn your phone on silent!
You can therefore show them the inside of your bag, minus phone. When you've done that a couple if times they won't ask and you can put phone in bag.

youarenotkiddingme · 12/09/2017 07:20

I stopped having my best friend and her kids over for the same reason.

I always believed because they were allowed to do as they pleased and when I put a stop to their behaviour mum would cuddle and pat them - that's the reason the deliberately spent the whole time doing what they shouldn't.

It was a great game them where they always ended up the winner and the most important person in the room.

Pinky333777 · 12/09/2017 07:22

I'd sit them all down and have a very serious talk. Lay down the ground rules for your home and if any rules are broken they are all simply asked to leave.

nannybeach · 12/09/2017 07:53

I sympathise with you, I had a couple of friends like this, who would let their kids, (older than these 2) go into my bedroom, get out stuff which wasnt toys, like a china doll, rip the hair off of it, I cannot be doing with parents who dont tell their kids off when they are in your house, Its not my job to parent them, (unless they are just with ME, not their parents) jumping on my furniture with dirty shoes, destroying my garden, while their Dad stands there laughing, when I finnally said something about that, was told "Ah boys will be boys"

RiotAndAlarum · 12/09/2017 08:41

It sounds as though you can't actually "see" them without these issues taking over. No conversation and no actual familial interaction = no point.

Happydoingitjusttheonce · 12/09/2017 08:45

It's wrong of me but I'd intentionally wind them up by dangling the phone when no one was looking Shock

laurielee23 · 12/09/2017 08:48

i sympathise. My sister is like this with her children and i dread their visits. They are nice children essentially, but have no boundaries and just go around throwing things, running about and jumping on the furniture. They will pull adults around, hide their stuff and attention seek all the time. It is totally exhausting. She literally never says no to them.. They interrupt adults all the time and say inappropriate things. I don't like them visiting, and don't enjoy visiting them as they live in total chaos.

MrsKoala · 12/09/2017 08:50

If i was your sister i'd rather it if you didn't come over. Sounds best for everyone if you stay apart.

FlatPacker · 12/09/2017 09:13

Yes, I have a sister and her two boys were just left to run amok. Not just in their home, but in other people's homes and in public. My old MIL opened her house up for an afternoon and this pair trashed it, broke things. In restaurants they would literally throw food on the floor (she defended this as baby-led weaning, but they were 4yo by this point). It was embarrassing. Annoying. Disrespectful. Put strain on the usual familial bonds. Now said boys are approaching 10yo and they seem to have calmed down a lot. I think school helps. Also they now just want to play computer games so are generally quiet doing that.

I always wondered what was going on in the head of my sister. She said she would rather child-proof her home rather than spend time/energy telling the boys off. Her husband almost encouraged the attitude of take/do what you want in some sort of bizarre encouragement to be assertive. I think for both parents it was an aversion to implementing discipline.

LuckyBitches · 12/09/2017 09:19

YANBU - your sister needs to teach her children some boundaries!

Cakeycakecake · 12/09/2017 09:27

I had a colleague visit this summer with her two that were like this. She messaged me after saying it had gone so well, she'd be over weekly so our dc could 'enjoy time together'. Don't know who she was talking about, her dc broke stuff intentionally that was actually child proof (I have a 1yr old) and hurt my dc, my neighbours came over after and asked that the holy fuck had happened that afternoon all she'd heard was my dc crying and other kids 'cackling like maniacs at (dc) unhappiness'.
I had a migraine that lasted til midnight that day. I replied the next day saying we'd be better off meeting in a park so kids could run off some steam, my kids stuff had been broken and they (particularly 4yr old) were unhappy. Her response? 'Hahahaha yeah my kids are such bullies. That's why I take them to other people's houses, they've broken everything at home. Most people won't have us back cause my kids terrorise theirs and break their stuff 🙄'

I've blocked her!

MrsKoala · 12/09/2017 09:27

Numerous paediatricians have told me that some children (like potty training) are still not able to understand some things at ages that others are. So for some being told once no, is enough but for others it isn't and may take years of saying it till they just grow out of it.

So i can understand why a parent may not want to live for years having a daily battle over a phone or something. Being mithered for hours and hours for days, weeks, months, years when it's easier just to move something till the child is more developed to understand.

I have also been told by peads and hv's that it's better to child proof than to constantly say no to a child about the same thing. 3 year olds are extremely unsophisticated and the frustration is sometimes very hard for them. Far better just remove the object of their torture (and yours) and have fun doing something else.

If someone was coming to my house and despite my 3 year old being told repeatedly no, they just wouldn't leave something alone i'd ask them not to bring it or to put it up high/out of sight. I think as a guest that's fairly normal to understand and would make it more pleasant for everyone. It doesnt sound like its a bag o' laffs going over and having this battle with a 3 year old.

Which is why i'm wondering why you do it op? Is there something in your family dynamic that has made you want to choose this battle? Is this really a hill you want to die on?

tehmina23 · 12/09/2017 09:36

YANBU they sound awful! Although it's the mothers fault rather than the kids.

I'm childfree right now but I like well behaved children & most of my friends & cousins' kids are good when in my house.

I feel really sorry for you, that because of their bad behaviour you can't really have a good relationship with these children.. if it was my sister & mum we'd be having words but then we maybe closer & can be honest with each other.

If you still decide to see them then leave the phone & pills in your car or in an inside pocket. But you shouldn't have to go that far!

RachelP247 · 12/09/2017 11:27

You will have lots of people telling you that YABU by the way, and you're a child hater.. but I'd hate them too

THIS!!!!

I'd go NC. They sounds like feral brats. And as for the kids....

ineedwine99 · 12/09/2017 11:34

I would keep my distance OP, you've tried and tried and as you say this will now be a game for them thanks to their mum, you'll just end up getting pushed to the brink.
Don't see them, only see your mum when she's alone

Branleuse · 12/09/2017 11:43

Im assuming you dont have much other experience of young children??

Not saying they are well behaved, but you sound a bit OTT about it.

FizzyGreenWater · 12/09/2017 11:51

Don't see them, and tell your mum and sister why.

They;re doing them no favours!

entitledmuch1 · 12/09/2017 11:56

Im assuming you dont have much other experience of young children?

I have plenty of experience of young children, thank you very much.

Years and years of babysitting literally twice a week from when the children were toddlers until they were school age. This was in my late teen and early 20s.

I did childcare jobs in summer holidays from university with young children.

Lots of my friends have young children.

Of course young children aren't perfect, I never said they were. However I have not encountered a single one of the children I babysat or my friends children habitually trying to take my stuff when they have been told every time, they cant have it. Not one of the other children went through my handbag when they were of an age were they could be told not to.

I think part of the problem with my sisters DC is that they see their mother and grandmother constantly telling me to just let them have it. I am not handing a smart phone over to a 3 year old when it will cost hundreds to replace if it gets broken. They already broke my tablet.

As for MrsKoala who said someone was coming to my house and despite my 3 year old being told repeatedly no, they just wouldn't leave something alone i'd ask them not to bring it or to put it up high/out of sight. .Did you not read the OP. I put my bag on shelves and caught them putting chairs against the shelves to be able to reach it.

I bought them gifts last time and the 3 yo chucked it on the floor and said he didnt like it. He mother sat and watched it. Whenever we are in shops he whines and whines for stuff. He goes on that he wants something. Wants to buy something, what can he have. He brings me toys and ask me to buy them and he whines when I say no.

I think my sister and mother are entirely to blame. They tell me in front of the children not to be mean and to let them see it and have it. So they think they are allowed to have it and I am just being nasty which is why they start every time I see them. Whereas if their mother from the word go had just said, no you are not allowed aunties phone or bag, it's not yours, it would have ended there. She encourages me to hand it over infront of them which is the problem.

I am sick and tired of the only interaction I have with them is that they want stuff. To be bought it or given things of mine I don't want them having.

I may sound OTT about it but I have years of this shit. After they broke my tablet I banned them from my house.

OP posts:
Thebookswereherfriends · 12/09/2017 12:02

I would only meet them at a park or a cafe. I would leave my bag in the car. It would seem that you will never be left in peace, so you either don't see them or you manage how and when you see them.

aaaaargghhhhelpme · 12/09/2017 12:02

Urgh. They sound horrific.

Next time they pester you for your phone suggest their mum or gran gives them theirs. Obviously it'd be mean of them not to

I'd steer well clear. Has your sister offered to pay to fix your tablet?

entitledmuch1 · 12/09/2017 12:12

Next time they pester you for your phone suggest their mum or gran gives them theirs. Obviously it'd be mean of them not to

They spend their lives on phones. Two of their mums, their dads, my mum hands her phone over.

That's not enough they want mine too.

She denied they broke the tablet. I know they did. It was on a day they visited and I found it off the table it was on and on the floor broken but I didnt see them do it.

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 12/09/2017 12:34

Wow how rude are you?! 'As for MrsKoala...' I did read the op. If they can see it on the shelf and get to it then you are shit at hiding it aren't you!

My 3 year old cried and said he didn't want his birthday party last wk and sometimes throws gifts on the floor. 3 years olds are contrary beasts.

When we are shopping he also pesters for things, it's annoying but fairly standard.

Sorry your extensive experience of babysitting hasn't prepared you for that. Hmm

PickAChew · 12/09/2017 12:38

I think you need to avoid all family situations that are even likely to involve your sister and her children. It doesn't sound like you get anything much positive out of being in her company and you being there is taken by them to be an invitation to walk all over you.

PickAChew · 12/09/2017 12:45

As for the idea of not bothering to draw boundaries with kids because they don't understand them... stroll on! There's 3 adults in this picture who could be teaching these kids to respect other people's property but instead, 2 of those adults are actually encouraging those kids to rifle through other people's bags, even when those other people aren't happy with it and will chastise them for not being happy with it.

OP has every right not to have her things ruined by kids whose mum and grandmother think they're too precious to say no to.