AITA For laughing at my sister when her daughter finally cut her off?
A Reddit user recounts a family conflict involving her sister and niece. The sister, who married into wealth, was never actively involved in raising her daughter. Instead, the niece spent most holidays with other relatives, as her mother prioritized parties.
As the niece turned eighteen and inherited money from her grandfather, she decided to cut off contact with her parents. While everyone else saw it coming, the sister was shocked. When she confided in the Redditor about her confusion, the Redditor laughed and reminded her that she had been warned.
Now, their mother believes the Redditor should apologize for being insensitive. Read the original story below…
‘ AITA For laughing at my sister when her daughter finally cut her off?’
My sister has never been a prize parent. She married rich and had a baby because thats what she was supposed to do. Truthfully she never looked after her own daughter for a single day. Even on things like Christmas she would go to parties and her daughter would celebrate with us (nannies don’t work on Christmas).
We all knew her daughter wouldn’t have any semblance of relationship with her. As she got older my sister would talk to her but it was never about things she liked. It was always things like, she’d book a trip to disney for her birthday. My niece has been terrified of themeparks since she was small.
My niece has just turned eighteen. She got her inheritance money from her grandpa and is set to start college this year. My dad drove her up to her college dorm a couple days ago actually. She’s doing well. As soon as she got there she sent her parents a text informing them that she was cutting them off and to no longer contact them.
No one is surprised – not even her dad. No one besides my sister, apparently. She’s been complaining since it happened. She’d incredibly upset. But we tried to warn her – if you don’t start bonding with her she won’t care for you and all that. When she finally approached me and explained her feelings and how she “just didn’t understand” I laughed at her.
I told her that we’d all warned her and that I, in fact, am incredibly happy for my niece. She went and complained to our mom who is potentially the only one on her side. She called me immature and said it was the wrong thing to do, I need to apologise – all that.
I haven’t, but probably will. I thought I’d come and post it to reddit just to see the general publics idea. Whats the point in life if you can’t make at least one AITA post, right? Haha.. So, am I the a**hole?
Lets dive into the reactions from Reddit:
According_Ad6364 − NTA, curious what this apology would sound like. “I’m sorry for not validating the feelings of a**ndonment you have from the child you abandoned.”
Stardust_Shinah − NTA. your sister brought it on herself. I’m happy for your niece too
Constant_Cultural − She treated her kid like a puppy and is now upset that her daughter is not a stupid puppy who loves her no matter what.
luinmiria − NTA – is it the nicest thing to do? No. Does she deserve “nice” after spending 18 years neglecting her daughter and ignoring your attempts to help? Hell no.
[Reddit User] − NTA. Sometimes when someone makes terrible decisions like her, such as being a crappy parent, its appropriate to laugh at their idiotic mistakes backfiring on them. Could you have been nicer? Maybe? Would she have deserved that? No
Sympathy_Main − NTA – “I told you so” is a correct answer. You didn’t gave her the warnings because you are a bad person.. You tried to help her. She had the choice of not listening. She had the choice of not coming to you to complain about the result.. She had it coming.
nikkesen − NTA. ah, so you found a diplomatic way of saying, “I told you so.”
KyotoDreamsTea − NTA. Your sister is emotionally illiterate. The difference is that she had a mother to parent her while she didn’t to her own daughter. She reaped what she sowed. The only one who should be apologizing and making amends is your sister to her daughter. What you said wasn’t immature but factual.
[Reddit User] − NTA she was warned but she was too busy being s**fish to be a parent. her daughter owes her NOTHING and it sounds like your mother was enabling her to abuse her own child (n**lect is abuse)
She’s the one who needs to apologise to her daughter maybe use some of that money to pay for therapy but she’s still owed nothing she made a series of decisions every time she abandoned her own daughter to go party
hope the memories of those parties keep her company in her old age because the daughter she neglected is free now and isn’t obligated to do s**t for her and likely won’t
TheSciFiGuy80 − I mean laughing in your sister’s face and telling her your glad her daughter cut her off (that’s how she provably perceived you being happy for your niece), is pretty low. Do I think you need to apologize? No. It would be insincere anyway. So why be forced to do so? Mind you, I am not on her side.
I think you did everything you could to warn her. It’s just sad that she never got the hint and ruined the relationship with her daughter. But there was no reason to pour salt in the wounds.
This story raises questions about accountability and empathy in family relationships. Should the Redditor have been more tactful, or was the sister simply facing the consequences of neglect?