A Reddit user recently shared a post on the popular subreddit r/AmItheAsshole, saying their sister-in-law is causing tension in the family by refusing to acknowledge their daughter because of her own struggles with infertility. The post has garnered 16,000 upvotes and 2,100 comments at the time of publication.
The Reddit user, u/Issues_infiritl_3697, begins by explaining that their sister-in-law struggles with infertility because of a diagnosed condition she has known about since high school or college. They also say that she experienced a miscarriage around three years ago, which has continued to affect her. However, the poster says the issue isn't her infertility struggles themselves, but how she handles them.
According to the poster, their sister-in-law doesn't want to see anything related to their children. While they understand her feelings, they say her behavior has become frustrating.
"For example, she thought it was cruel of me to post photos of my newborn daughter in the family group chat. I told her I would be more mindful because, at the time, she had just experienced a miscarriage around the same time my daughter was born," they wrote.
Currently, their daughter is the only child in the family. At family events, however, their sister-in-law reportedly avoids her niece.
"If I walk over with my daughter she will straight up walk away. She refused to go to any of my kids milestones, so for her birthday my brother came and she didn’t come. She asked me last year if I could not bring my daughter to Christmas," they continued.
The poster says they previously tried talking to their sister-in-law about her behavior, but the conversation upset her. Their brother also got angry with them. They say they've spoken to him about the situation more times than they can count, but nothing has changed.
Now that fall has arrived, the family has been participating in seasonal activities. The poster says their brother and sister-in-law shared photos of themselves visiting a local farm, so they decided to share pictures of their own family's fall activities, too.
"I sent a three picture of my family and I at a pumpkin patch. My daughter was in the pictures. I got a call from my SIL asking not to post picture of my kid in the family group chat. I had enough and told her no. That if she has too much trouble seeing picture of my kid then she can leave the family group chat," they wrote.
Their sister-in-law reportedly hung up, and their brother is now upset with them for making her cry. However, the poster says they don't believe her reaction is their responsibility.
Reddit users weigh in on the family's dispute over the sister-in-law's behavior
Several Reddit users sided with the poster, while others acknowledged that the sister-in-law's infertility struggles could be difficult to navigate.
"NTA. Your sister-in-law needs professional psychological help," one commenter wrote.
"NTA, I have empathy for the SIL but censoring a different human being who is just as much a part of the family as the SIL is not the solution," another commented.
The disagreement largely centers on how the sister-in-law reportedly treats her niece. While she may be struggling with infertility, commenters argued that the child is also a member of the family and shouldn't be made to feel excluded.
"NTA, it's a horrible thing to struggle with infertility hut she needs to do the work to come to terms with it and stop making it everyone else's problem. Leaving a group chat if the content of it is difficult for her is a perfectly reasonable request," another Reddit user wrote.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the post, which are based solely on the author's account shared on r/AmItheAsshole.
