AITAH for letting my kids loot my brother’s house to prove my point. ?

A Redditor shares a story about a playful yet escalating conflict with her brother regarding some missing Lego toys taken by her nephew during a visit. After her brother failed to return the toys, she decided to teach him a lesson by allowing her kids to “loot” his house in retaliation. This led to a chaotic barbecue and an angry phone call from her brother, who felt disrespected by her actions. Read the full story below.

‘ AITAH for letting my kids loot my brother’s house to prove my point. ?’

My brother and his family came for a visit last month. My kids and I play with lego and we have fun leaving little dioramas around my house. Just silly stuff like a fight between Ironman and Darth Vader on the loot llama. It’s just our way of leaving Easter eggs around the house.

My nephew really liked them and decided to take a few home. When we noticed they were missing I asked my brother to bring them back. He said that it was just kids being kids and that he would them back the next time we saw each other.

I saw him for coffee and I reminded him beforehand that I wanted all our stuff back. He “forgot” to bring the “toys”. Okay. Game on. We went over to his place for a BBQ. I told my kids that unless all our stuff was returned to us when we got there literally anything in the house was fair game.

Like the godless barbarians they are they went to town. When we left I don’t think there were any remotes, small electronics, or beer mugs left at his house. I actually had to sneak the dog back into the house before we left. I started getting calls on our way home. I ignored them.

When I got home I returned his calls. He said a bunch of stuff was missing from his house. I said I would check with the kids. He said that I f**king well knew what happened and that he wanted his s**t back. I said I would box it up and return it the next time we saw eack other. As long as we got our lego back.

He was at my house with my Lego later that evening. He had even accidentally included stuff that wasn’t ours. I returned it and his stuff. I told him that this is how we would be dealing with his kid in the future.

He is pissed off that he had to make a special trip to return my stuff. My parents think that there is a huge difference between an eight year old taking Lego minifigures and a couple of teenagers pillaging their uncle’s house.. AITAH?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

SockMaster9273 −  NTA. Wouldn’t have to go that far if he just gave you your stuff back.

ShotBarracuda6 −  “I actually had to sneak the dog back into the house before we left.” I laughed for the first time since my horse recently died reading this. Nta. Eta: I understand you think this was funny, but you can also have some sensitivity for my loss. Make jokes if you want but please don’t comment things like I was laughing when my horse died, or m**der etc… just don’t cross the line please. 

celticmusebooks −  So you were LITERALLY at his house and they didn’t give the Legos his kid STOLE back to you? Unless your nephew is intellectually compromised in some way 8 years old is absolutely old enough to know that STEALING is wrong.. Nicely played.

bigben7102 −  NTA this is a case of tit for tat and you got your stuff back

Whereswolf −  I love that they even got the dog \*lol\*. An 8 yo know not to take toy/stuff from others. Well played

scaffnet −  That was awesome.

Bumpy110011 −  “Like the godless barbarians they are they went to town.”. Poet. 

MTClarity −  This is why I’m never leaving this site. What a great story. I love that the kids understood the assignment. Maybe this will teach the nephew to not take things that aren’t his. Kid sounds like a spoiled b**t.

Mundane-Device-7094 −  NTA. Tell your parents the biggest difference here is that you immediately returned his things instead of trying to keep them until he decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. Yeah the kid shouldn’t take stuff but your brothers response is the biggest issue.

Decent-Historian-207 −  Your brother knew you guys were coming over for a BBQ – so he could have had your belongings boxed up and handed to you to put in the car when you showed up. Instead, he just didn’t do anything and had to make a special trip. Sounds like you mentioned it to him a few times, and he just brushed it off. Maybe he should actually return things that don’t belong to him.. NTA

Was the Redditor’s approach to resolving the missing Lego situation justified, or did she go too far by allowing her kids to take items from her brother’s house? How would you have handled the situation? Share your thoughts below!