People rally around single mom who asked niece to leave her house to accommodate nanny for her kids

Business and personal relationships can never gel with each other. They always lead to murky waters, as both parties can take each other for granted and not follow through with the provisions. u/KaleidoscopeOld3504 learned this sad reality first-hand when her long-standing deal of babysitting with her niece fell through. Due to their relationship, the niece refused to take the revoking of her privileges lying down and involved her parents. After exhausting all the options, the aunt had to put her foot down and take away the benefits the niece enjoyed. She shared the entire story on Reddit.

The user is a single mother of two kids, aged 8 and 6. After the demise of her husband, she began searching for a live-in nanny who would take care of the kids for three days, as she had a spare guest room. She works as a nurse and has 12-hour shifts from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. on those days. Her niece immediately contacted her as she was interested in the offer. The mother explained, "She wanted to save cost on dorms and offered to watch my kids those 3 days if she could live there rent-free." The aunt also paid $22/hr to the niece for her services. The whole thing worked out perfectly for two years. The niece finished her classes by 1, prepared dinner for the children and then put them to sleep. She was paid for her services from 3 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.

After 2 years, she secured a paid internship related to her major and took it up. The niece informed her aunt, who was extremely happy and congratulated her. Since the niece would not be available to work as a nanny due to her internship, the aunt offered to "help her look into student housing or an apartment." The niece was surprised, as she did not think the internship would cause her to move out. The aunt had no choice as even after the internship the niece would not come back to babysitting. She needed to find a long-term solution.

The aunt explained to her calmly that since she only has one guest bedroom, there is no way for her to accommodate both the nanny and her niece. The niece worried that she wouldn't be able to save on her living cost, suggested that the aunt hire someone who would leave at the end of the shift rather than sleep in the guest bedroom. For the sake of her niece, the aunt attempted to search for someone who would drive home at night after babysitting, but to no avail. Moreover, her own conscience did not permit this as she herself feels "nervous driving home so late, especially after my long shift."

It has led to tensions among the family members, as the niece's mother has gotten involved. She is pressuring the mother to find a nanny willing to drive back late. The search has proven futile and the aunt has served the niece with legal notice, just in case someone in the family tries to step out of line. She came to Reddit to ask whether she was right in not compromising with the niece.

The comment section was on the aunt's side. u/uncommonbreeddogmom provided further suggestions for the situation and commented, "NTA. You need to get a lawyer to draft an official move-out document with a 30-day date. Her parents are going to tell her to just stay and call your bluff because 'FaMilY'. Don't let her screw you and your kids over." 

u/soft_puppy_ears asked the mother to give niece and her family the taste of their own medicine and wrote, "NTA at all. I'd go for the jugular and ask them why they feel a widowed single mother who's just trying to hold it all together is obligated to provide their adult daughter with free housing. I'm surprised you were paying her as much as you were considering the free housing."