'Cool off a little': Man left fuming after pregnant teen sister laughs off lack of money to buy stroller

The man thinks his sister is not taking the responsibility of her unborn baby seriously enough

PUBLISHED MAR 17, 2023

Does giving your sister a reality check make you an a**hole? This was the conundrum faced by original poster (OP), u/hepindol, who posted about the scenario in Reddit's popular forum "Am I The A**hole." The post recieved 1.6k upvotes and more than 300 comments from fellow Redditors.

In the Reddit post titled "AITA for yelling at my pregnant sister after she didn't have enough money to buy a stroller?", OP writes that his sister, who is in high school and doesn't have a job, is 6 months pregnant. He explained, "My sister has paid no mind to all of these concerns. It’s important to note that my sister’s boyfriend (the father of her baby) has passed away. She swears up and down she’s fine and has only received required counseling on it. I find it best to comfort her when I see her rather than lecture her."

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'I told her that she needed to get real and have a plan down'

He further detailed in her post, "I’ve been patient with my sister, I really have. She loves to talk about all the cute things about a baby, so I go along with it. That was until we went to the store. She wanted to buy a baby stroller. We got to the cashier, and her card declined. When she checked her account, there was $93 in it. 93 bucks. And she was laughing. That about did it for me. I bought the stroller and kept composure until we went outside. I told her that she needed to get real and have a plan down because there will be a baby here pretty soon. She started crying and hasn’t spoken to me since."

OP does admit that he might have been too harsh with his sister, but defended himself by saying that "what I told her was real. I would be more than happy to sit down and make a plan for her on how to balance a job, childcare, and school, but whenever I bring it up, she steers away from the subject."

'You were harsher than you needed to be'

The post garnered hundreds of comments, with most users leaning towards OP being NTA (Not The A**hole) while others declaring that there are NAH (No A**holes Here). One user wrote, "You answered your own question saying you were a bit harsh about it. But she does need a plan and needs one soon. And it sounds like you're willing to help her with that. So you're a caring brother that means well. Just cool off a little I guess. Overall, NTA."

Another user warned the woman about helping his sister too much, "Nta. But I would watch paying for ANYTHING... As your sister and Mom will expect you to pay for everything if you start doing it now. You need to set some hard boundaries right now as well about babysitting. Otherwise she will just dump the kid on you all the time it."

A third user called out the OP on his behavior too, "You were harsher than you needed to be, and expect the WORLD from a high school girl (what high school kid isn't living with their parents? Obviously she doesn't have a job or her own place. How could she??) That said, you aren't wrong. She does need to get her shit together before giving birth. NAH, but perhaps gentler next time. And apologize for being harsh. She's pregnant, young, and lost her bf. She's steering away from the subject because it's scary. "If I ignore it, it'll go away". It's obvious you're just worried about her because you love her, even if you were harsh. She'll appreciate you being there for her despite her behavior when she is able to grasp the reality of her situation."

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