Single Mom Refusing To Pay for What Daughter Did When Babysitting Cheered

For many of us family means caring and sharing without ever having to ask, but for some it may not be the same. The internet has recently backed a mom who refused to pay for a couple of slices of cake that her daughter ate at her sister’s house in a post that quickly went viral on social media.

In the post, shared on Reddit on Tuesday, under the username Jaded-Band-5692, the 38-year-old single mom explained that her teenage daughter, Carly, who is 17 years old, usually babysits for her sister’s children, who are 9 and 2 years old, working for three to four hours at a time, and getting paid between €30 and €40 ($32—$43).

She wrote: “Me and my sister do not make Carly babysit, she volunteers to. She likes having the extra money to fund her Starbucks addiction without a part-time job in fast food or retail, plus the kids love getting to see her. I’m glad that she’s getting to learn responsibility. I think it’s a win all around.”

While everything had been going smoothly, last weekend her angry sister called her and asked her for money.

The poster explained that while babysitting, her daughter ate two slices of custom-made lemon curd cake that was for her cousin’s birthday, which was about two weeks before,. Her aunt still had it stored in the bread cupboard because none of the kids at the party wanted to eat it.

When the poster’s sister realized Carly had eaten some of the cake, she called her sister and asked her to pay for what had been eaten, saying that her daughter should have asked for permission before eating it.

She wrote: “I apologized to my sister and told her that I would have a word with my daughter. She mentions again that the cake was custom-made and expensive, and says that we should be compensating her. At first, I honestly thought she couldn’t be serious, but she did want me to give her money because of the cake.

“I mentioned that surely the cake is going bad soon if it isn’t already stale—I said this light-heartedly trying to lighten the mood—but made it clear I’M NOT GIVING HER MONEY. She says she paid €70 for the cake and she expects me to give her €20. I told her I’m not doing that.”

The poster’s sister then proceeded to call her “inconsiderate” for refusing to pay, but she believes she was only being petty.

“What difference would it have made if all of it got eaten last weekend or at the birthday party?” she added.

Siblings relationships tend to get more complicated as you grow up, and it turns out that sometimes the person your grew up with may be toxic. But how do you know if that is the case?

Newsweek previously reported on the signs that your siblings might actually be toxic, including unhealthy competitiveness, taking advantage of you, and controlling the narrative.

The post quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across Reddit. It has so far received over 4,800 upvotes and 1,000 comments on the platform.

One user, u/YouthNAsia63, commented: “Pay sis for the two slices of her fancy a** cake, and tell your daughter she will not be babysitting her siblings without full and comparable to other sitters’ compensation ever again. And tell her why.

“Your sis had the golden goose of babysitters, and she obviously had no idea how good she had it. Emphasis on had. If she wants to nickel and dime you, let go

“And don’t bother to give sister a heads up. She can find out your daughter will be charging her, oh, shall we say, 20 euro an hour? For every hour? Or whatever the going rate is, or she can scramble to find an alternate.

“Your daughter could make all kinds of money for her Starbucks addiction, working for somebody else. But the bargain sis had- ended when she expected you to fork over 20 euro for stale leftover cake. [Not The A******].”

Newsweek reached out to Jaded-Band-5692 for comment via Reddit chat. We could not verify the details of the situation.

Do you have any dilemmas or difficult sibling situations you wish to share? Send them to [email protected] and they could appear on Newsweek.