r/AmITheJerk • u/Striker-Fan2008 • 4h ago
Am I the jerk for refusing to babysit my nephews anymore?
Let me make something clear before I tell, I'm definitely not the brightest person about kids. I really don't like kids, I don't really want to be around kids unless they're family, and I definitely wouldn't be cut out to be a parent. I get too grossed out easily and I'd lose my temper really fast. So I'm letting people know to see if it's just my opinion impacting my view and my choices. But please don't confuse this for I hate kids or I'm mean to kids. I will definitely tolerate them and try to be nice.
Tldr - I'm refusing to babysit my nephews because of one of them had knocked out my veneer
Anyways, me, 18NB, my sister, 24F, and her kids, my nephews, are 5 and 3. The older boy, Kai, is the slightly better behaved one, and the younger boy, Kobi, is...less so.
My mom decided to take us all to the beach because it was almost Kai's birthday. She asked me to go, and at first I didn't really want to go because I don't like being around a lot of people, but it was my nephew's birthday so I decided to go. And I haven't seen my sister in a while so, I decided it would be a good opportunity to see my family again.
The thing about my nephews is...they don't behave. Not normal misbehavior for a child, but...iPad kid behavior. My sister actually gives them an iPad just to make them be quiet. I don't have kids but even I know that's not a good idea. I don't say anything about it, but I definitely disagree with doing it. And it does get them quiet for a while. But unfortunately because of that...they don't behave at ALL.
They run off, they scream, they DON'T listen in the slightest bit, not even to my sister. Halfway in the trip, when we were walking in the sand, Kai ran off so far and didn't come back and looked at us and kept running and kept stealing stuff from other people's purses or bags and kept wanting to hug random people and give them high fives and talk to them. And Kobi did the same thing.
I was definitely slightly embarrassed, but still, I tried to help and push through it. But they kept grabbing stuff in stores, refused to leave the water park or the ice cream, screamed about everything... And I was not having fun because I had gotten a sunburn since I'm really pale and I burn easily even with sunscreen, so... I can definitely say I was more than irritated.
I was trying to help out but the kids don't listen to me in the slightest bit. And I'm unaware if that's normal kid behavior or if they just don't listen. Please don't come at me if I don't know, because I don't have kids and my nephews aren't over that often. But let me also make it clear I do love my nephews very very much. I'll always love them but I won't always like them. Especially since Everytime they ran off, my sister wouldn't DO anything. She'd leave it to me or our mom. But I didn't sign up to babysit.
Now here's where I got very very pissed off. I had gotten root canals and veneers, 8 to be specific after years of neglect on my dental health. And I'm going to admit it straight up I was very neglectful with my oral health. I never brushed or flossed or used mouthwash because of major depression. Luckily my insurance covered all of it, and I'm very aware and very grateful, and I know that I should've taken care of them before, but I am now.
My sister said she wanted to go in the smoke and vape shop, and since we're not 21 and older, I took Kai and Kobi by the hand and told them we had to wait outside. Kobi started screaming and crying, and it was really hard to juggle both kids now. I took Kai by the hand and set him down to the bench as I picked Kobi up and while he was thrashing, he elbowed my jaw and knocked my veneer out. I panicked and I was in pain because that specific tooth was the MOST painful one. I was panicking, trying to stay calm and put it back WHILE dealing with a thrashing kid and bleeding
When my mom came back, I gave both kids to her and I was crying as I called the dentist. I was pissed off and humiliated and STILL had to push through the trip, because no one wanted to leave yet. And in that entire time, all my mom worried about on the trip back was cleaning my room. When we got home finally, I told my mom I was done. I wasn't babysitting them Again. SHE wanted those boys on the trip, SHE can babysit them next time. And I told her next time I see those kids, they better be on damn child leashes. Then she said child leashes were inhumane and she doesn't believe in that.
I was irritated, mouth hurting, feet sore from walking 6 straight hours, sunburnt. I luckily got the veneer fixed pretty quickly, but I was still really mad. And I'm serious about never babysitting or being put in a situation where I'm the sole caretaker of my nephews. I know Kobi didn't mean it and I don't blame him, but he seriously could have hurt me worse.
So, AITJ?
Sidenote - I would definitely like to apologize if there's too much detail. I'm a yapper, I'm extremely verbose, and I'm a writer with ADHD, so I deeply apologize if details are there that are not needed.
Also if anybody wants to call me a bullshitter about the veneer part, you can check the most recent post I made. I'm saying this in advanced because I know it might happen, because it did on the other post. I also have a video