Woman's Reason for Banning Sister From Her Home Backed: 'Incredibly Upset'

The internet has backed a mom who banned her sister from her home after she was caught mocking her son.

In a now-viral Reddit post, u/__throwaway294 explained that her 17-year-old son is happiest near the sea. Fortunately, they live near a beach so she often finds him surfing, swimming or just sitting near the waves.

But recently, the teen was at the beach more often than not as his aunt and two cousins are visiting.

The mom explained: "He said that it's just really overwhelming at the house because his cousins never leave him alone (they're 8 and 9-year-old girls that adore him) so he just goes to the beach to avoid them. I told him I understood and talked to my sister who said she'd talk to them."

On February 14, the Redditor arrived home to find the two daughters watching a movie alone.

She wrote: "I got the girls and went to the beach and found my son at his usual spot. But my sister was there too and she was yelling at him. She said something along the lines of 'you do realize that you aren't in some film where the main character's like connected to the sea or has magic ocean powers right? Like... you realize that you aren't like that Percy Jackson character and your dad isn't some sea god?'

"My son looked incredibly upset and he has an explosive temper so I knew he was about to say something crazy so I immediately jumped in and asked my sister what the hell her problem was. She looked taken aback but said that she told my son to watch the girls while she went to get food but when she came back he wasn't there and the girls were alone."

The mom was left in an awkward predicament as both family members had relayed different scenarios. The aunt claims he agreed to babysit whereas he claims he told her he was busy.

"They went back and forth on this without letting me get a word in and I eventually just told my sister that this wasn't working out and that if she was going to fight and argue with my son and mock him then she isn't welcome in my home," she wrote.

The Redditor ends the post by stating her sister told her to stop "coddling" her son and allowing him to make "ridiculous decisions."

The post was initially shared on February 15 but she has since updated it explaining why the teen loves the water so much.

"My child's father left us. When my son was younger, my brother got him into the Percy Jackson books and my son got pretty attached to the character and would tell people that he was the character and would say that his dad was similar to Poseidon which is why he wasn't around. I haven't read the books so I don't know the details but it was for a very short while when he was a lot younger. He hasn't even mentioned Percy Jackson in years," she wrote.

'You Have to Respect Your Son's Needs and Happiness'

Susan Leigh, a counselor based in Manchester, UK, spoke to Newsweek about the post that has 11,300 upvotes.

She said: "Everyone has their own opinions on the best way to raise their children. We all muddle through in the best way we can. It's good that your son has an interest in swimming and water sports. He's almost a man now, so your input into his life will be very different than your sister's input into the lives of her two young daughters.

"I suggest that you need to be firm with her, tell her that whilst it's lovely for you all to be so close, you have to respect your son's needs and happiness. Explain that you get very little time together and insist that she telephone you before she comes round so that it works best for you all. That way you can effectively screen her visits and have her come around when it's convenient for all."

The Comments

Over 1,350 people commented on the post. The top comment, with 18,900 upvotes, said: "I don't know how far into the argument they were, but it strikes me that if your son had agreed to watch the kids and then left, your sister wouldn't be saying he had a delusional relationship with the water; she would be saying, 'why did you leave my kids unattended when you agreed to watch them?' Also, if she were genuinely concerned about her daughter's well-being, I'm not sure why SHE would have left them to go yell at your son. Anyway, NTA."

Another said: "Yeah, 'I'm so upset you left my children unsupervised, that I came right here leaving them unsupervised to yell at you' [this] is a story she's gonna need to work on."

"She tried the 'if I just leave he'll have to look after them even after saying no' card and it failed," suggested another person.

Newsweek reached out to u/__throwaway294 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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