AITAH for not paying more attention to kids on a camping trip? Everyone is saying it’s my fault nephew got hurt.
A man shared on Reddit’s AmItheAhole** subreddit about a family camping trip that turned tense after his nephew got hurt. While the adults were busy preparing breakfast, the man found a sunny spot to relax and dozed off. At some point, one of his nephews mentioned they were going swimming, and he responded half-asleep without giving it much thought. Later, one of the nephews got hurt while climbing on rocks they had been warned not to climb. The other adults blamed the man for not watching the children, believing that he should have automatically taken responsibility once the kids informed him of their activities. The man, however, argues that no one explicitly asked him to supervise, and he didn’t realize the kids were unsupervised.
Follow the full story below to see how this family camping trip turned into a heated discussion on responsibility and supervision.
AITAH for not paying more attention to kids on a camping trip? Everyone is saying it’s my fault nephew got hurt.
We went on a camping trip with my brother and sister’s families. The campsite is a short walk away from a lake with a little beach area. Earlier in the day while everyone else was getting ready and eating breakfast I took a towel and found a sunny place to lay down. A little while later I hear one of my nephew’s say “Uncle Sam (my name), we’re going swimming” I was kind of half asleep with my eyes closed and just said okay.
A little while later I hear another nephew crying. They had all been climbing on the rocks (which they were told yesterday not to do) and he had slipped one of the rocks and split his jaw open. I carried him up to the camp, so the grown ups could take care of it. They start demanding to know what happened. I told them the kids were climbing on the rocks. They get mad at me for not stopping them. I told them I didn’t notice them climbing on the rocks because my eyes were closed. Then they get even more mad and start yelling at me for not sitting up and watching them once I knew they were there. They think it’s enough that the kids told me that they were swimming and if there’s no adults around that I’m automatically in charge of watching them. I think they should have actually asked me to watch them and not just expected me to. Also I didn’t even know there weren’t any adults with them because I had my eyes closed. They say that doesn’t matter and I need to pay attention when kids are around.
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Here’s what people had to say to OP:
Artillery_Cat says:
NTA. It’s not your responsibility to watch kids that aren’t yours, especially if you aren’t asked to do so by the parents. If they wanted you to be in charge of supervising their kids, they should have explicitly asked you to do so. They can’t just automatically assume that you’re going to responsible for their kid’s safety just because you happen to be in the general vicinity.
MaddyKet says:
He says in a comment he’s 15! The parents are huge a holes here. A 30 year old still wouldn’t be the A H, but honestly I would expect them to at least check out the situation. Then let the parents know he’s NOT THE BABYSITTER. But another kid? No.
NTA
cookiesarenomnom says:
Yep same. We went camping all summer long growing up. My parents never knew where we were. We would take our bikes out and be told to be home before it gets dark (we always went to the same campgrounds so we knew the trails). I was also on the swim team as a kid, and learned to swim when I was a baby. But despite all this we were told to NEVER EVER swim by ourselves. If we wanted to go swimming we had to go back to the campsite and ask one of our parents to go with us. We always obeyed this rule.
shadow_dreamer says:
At fifteen there’s a good chance that if one of the kids had started drowning, he wouldn’t have even been able to get them out of the water in time- it’s one thing to carry a cooperating small child on dry land, it’s another thing ENTIRELY to extract a drowner from the water without getting drowned yourself.
OP, you aren’t old enough to be the responsible ‘adult’ in charge when swimming is happening- and the adults around are deflecting blame because they’re scared about how badly this could have gone, and don’t want to admit that they fucked up.
WithoutDennisNedry says:
I don’t usually weigh in on these kid ones because I don’t have a horse in this particular race (I don’t have kids). It’s really refreshing to see you comment this as the very first thing I thought was, “why are those kids OP’s responsibility? Wait, no one even asked OP to watch the kids?” I can’t say what I’d do as the parent, I don’t have those experiences to draw from. But I can say if I was in OP’s shoes, I’d be pretty p*ssed these parents were schluffing responsibility onto me when I was just lying there, minding my own business and expecting their parents to be, I don’t know… parenting them?
Edited for clarity
Ybuzz says:
Ah I see. They left a 15 year old ‘in charge’ (unknowingly) of their children while they did something dangerous, and now they feel guilty and like they did a shitty job of parenting and are turning that guilt on the oldest kid.
Honestly at 15 I’m not sure they should be letting YOU wild swim without adult supervision/a lifeguard around so I don’t know why they thought leaving you in charge of younger kids doing that was a great idea.
A kid your age died near me recently in an accident just off a beach. Water is dangerous. They know that, and they probably had the sudden realization that could have gone a lot worse and it would be THEIR fault.
katamino says:
At 15, my kid was working as a life guard at a water park, fully trained. Yes, your lifeguards can be as young as 15. OP could watch the kids at their age, but someone needs to ASK first, not just foist them off without a word.
Artillery_Cat says:
Yeah, I really don’t get the parents’ thinking here. I don’t have kids, but I did work at a Girl Scout Camp that was on a lake and was a certified open water lifeguard. It’s a fairly intense training course that is much more involved than a standard pool lifeguard certification. I certainly wouldn’t trust an un-certified 15 year old to know what to do if something did go horribly wrong with a child swimming in a lake.
If you’re going to have your kids swimming anywhere, you either need to be watching them like a hawk yourself or you should be somewhere with an actual lifeguard present. No exceptions. It’s just too risky otherwise.
This story touches on the delicate balance between individual responsibility and clear communication within families, especially when it comes to the safety of children. While the man didn’t explicitly agree to watch the kids, the family expected him to step up. It raises important questions about supervision, communication, and the expectations placed on family members in group settings.
Do you think the man should have been more alert once the kids mentioned their plans, or was the family wrong for assuming he’d take charge without asking? Share your thoughts on the situation and how this could have been handled better.
