Redditor Says Aunt Excluded Her From Child-Free Wedding Only to Expect Her to Babysit 4 Cousins for Free

Weddings can be stressful, and sometimes people turn to Reddit for advice. Reddit’s r/aitaweddings community is dedicated to helping people navigate wedding-related conflicts. One post, made by u/Creative_Ball_1062, asks for advice about babysitting during a wedding. The post has received 8,800 upvotes and 2,000 comments.

u/Creative_Ball_1062 seeks advice after her aunt decided to have a child-free wedding. That, however, is not what bothers her about the situation.

“The issue is that four of my cousins — two of whom are my aunt’s children — are currently at an age when they would require supervision. I love my cousins, but I don’t really like young children, and I don’t feel comfortable watching them for long periods of time. My aunt has repeatedly told me that it is extremely difficult for her to find a babysitter and that watching the kids for a few days is the least I can do, considering I am not attending the wedding,” she wrote in the post.

She says she would be willing to attend the wedding, but her aunt told her the rules could not be bent for her. After u/Creative_Ball_1062 refused to watch the children, her aunt went to her mother and told her that she should support her family.

“My mom took my side, saying that if she didn’t want to include me in the wedding because I was a child, she didn’t get to give me the responsibilities of an adult. My aunt and a few other family members believe that I should watch the kids, but I honestly feel like I was intentionally excluded, not because of my age, but because my aunt wanted a free babysitter,” she continued, ending the post by asking if she was the a--hole.

Users sided with her in the comments

The way her mom stood up for her was something Reddit users appreciated, with several commenters saying they loved that she supported her daughter.

Others viewed the situation as a consequence of the aunt’s own actions, arguing that she should have made arrangements for childcare rather than expecting her niece to provide it for free.

Another user suggested that she agree to babysit, but return to her aunt with an outrageous hourly rate if she really needed someone to watch the children that badly.

While some family members may believe she should help, commenters largely felt that if her aunt wanted a child-free wedding, arranging childcare should be her responsibility.

After all, being excluded from the wedding does not automatically make someone responsible for making sure everyone else can attend.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the post, which are based solely on Creative_Ball_1062’s account shared on r/aitaweddings. The post describes a family dispute involving a child-free wedding, the poster’s decision not to babysit her four cousins, and disagreements among family members over who should be responsible for childcare.