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She doesn't think she did anything wrong.
By Victoria Soliz — Written on Nov 20, 2022
One woman has taken to Reddit’s "r/AmItheA–-hole" (AITA) to share a conflict she’s having.
AITA is a subreddit where users from across the internet ask for advice on a conflict in their lives.
Wondering if she’s in the wrong, she asks others if it was okay for her to refuse to pay for her babysitter’s laptop after her child broke it.
The mother doesn’t believe she needs to replace anything because, in her eyes, it was the babysitter’s fault.
She has just started a new job and was in need of help around the house taking care of her children — 8 and 6 years old — hence the reason she hired a babysitter.
The babysitter is only 17 years old, so whenever she comes over to babysit, she brings her laptop so she can study for school.
One day, disaster struck.
“Yesterday, I came home and the babysitter showed me her laptop that got broken by my youngest,” the mother wrote.
According to the babysitter, while she was out of the room preparing lunch for the children the youngest child grabbed the laptop and ran until he dropped it, breaking the screen in the process.
While the mother was upset for the babysitter, she said “it was [the babysitter’s] fault for leaving the laptop within reach of [the] children.”
She defended her children, saying “how they might have thought it belonged to us since it was in our house.”
When the babysitter asked if the mother could replace the screen due to her exams coming up, the mother refused.
“Later on, I got a call from her dad basically blaming the whole thing on me, and demanding I pay to get the laptop fixed but I still refused. Now, she's refusing to come again unless I pay her for the laptop repair even though I paid her in advance to watch the kids,” she wrote.
Reddit collectively agreed that the mother was in the wrong.
One of the top comments from a fellow mother points out how 6 and 8-year-olds are old enough to know not to touch items that don’t belong to them.
“YTA (You're the a--hole.) A 6 and 8-year-old are absolutely old enough to know not to touch/run around with other people's electronics. Signed, Mother of a 6-year-old,” she wrote.
Another user pointed out the unspoken rule of being a parent.
“YTA. You pay for what your kids destroy. That’s part of being a parent. End of story,” they wrote.
Most of the users also agreed that her logic seems flawed, more specifically with how the children might’ve thought the laptop was theirs “because it was in the house.”
“What kind of backward logic is that? Your kids are old enough to understand that if she brings something with her, it's hers. Just like if they take something to school, it's theirs, not the school's,” a third user wrote.
Victoria Soliz is a writer with YourTango who covers news and entertainment content. Her work explores pop culture trends, film and TV, and celebrity news