Woman asks if she was wrong to give her sister a harsh reality check about her bad parenting

Parenting is challenging, especially for single parents. However, neglecting children is a different situation altogether. A woman, u/educational-newt2449, shared on Reddit how her sister's children were being neglected, and it is heartbreaking. She asked if she was wrong to call out her sister's bad parenting, and people on the platform supported her for speaking the truth.

The 29-year-old wrote that she was living at her parent's house along with her sister and her four kids. The older children were aged 16, 14 and 10 and the youngest was 11 months old. The woman revealed that she moved in with her parents to care for her mother who has cancer and needed someone to drive her around. "My father can't drive due to a stroke, and my sister lost her driver's license. Since I work from home and have a flexible schedule, I am the best option for assisting my parents," she shared.

Talking about her sister's kids, she said that they were a mess. "One day, I noticed my 10-year-old nephew’s hair was matted. I took him to a hairstylist, who told me his hair was molding," she said. She then shared that her sister works during the day and often comes home late and goes straight to bed. Later, the woman got to know that her sister was leaving the baby at home and the oldest was responsible for the rest of the children. "She is burnt out and is failing many of her classes. When she found out she had to redo her grade, her mother screamed at her. I stepped in and told my niece it was okay and that I would help her get her grades up next year," she revealed.

The woman expressed that she'd tried talking to her sister about these issues but whenever she brought it up, she always started crying and talked about how hard being a single mom was. "However, I found out that her ex-boyfriends are sending her money for the kids, but she chooses to work part-time while trying to become a beauty influencer," the aunt shared. Meanwhile, she has been taking care of her nieces and nephews and the kids have become attached to her.

Things went south when her 14-year-old niece won a prize in a competition for young storytellers. "She wrote a story talking about coping with her home life and her abusive mother. At the award ceremony, my niece thanked her siblings, my mother, and me, saying, 'Thank you for being the mom I never had.'" The woman shared that her sister left abruptly and only reappeared the day before she penned the post. The sister kept asking the woman if she was saying that she was a bad mother. At first, she tried to calm her down but later she couldn't take it anymore. The 29-year-old shared that she "unloaded everything: the neglect, the lack of supervision, the emotional abandonment. I told her she was not fulfilling her responsibilities as a mother and that her kids deserved better."

Her sister was furious and refused to listen to the woman and yelled that she was doing her best and she had no right to interfere. "I told her that her 'best' was not good enough and that her children were suffering because of her actions. I reiterated that the kids deserved a stable, nurturing environment and that I couldn't stand by and watch them be neglected," she wrote. Her sister then went to her daughters and told them that if they hated her so much, they were "dead" to her. 

The woman revealed that everyone in the family was troubled by this series of events. Her parents were confused and hurt that they'd not seen what was going on. She shared that her mother has been crying since she got to know what happened and her father has a temper problem so he screamed at her sister "very threatening things." She then spoke about how her sister's kids were: "The 10-year-old was furious at the 14-year-old for saying what she did because he thought their mother was going to take them away, and the 16-year-old had a huge panic attack and fell down." She ended her post by asking if she had done something wrong and if she should not have said anything to her sister.

u/almaguisante commented, "As soon as I read mold, I realized you were not wrong. I’m glad your nibblings have you around to help. That 16yo deserves to be a kid and have time for school as she was drowning under the responsibility. Your sis should be thankful the school didn’t call child services." u/beautifulchristinaa wrote, "You are doing the right thing: Your actions are motivated by love and concern for the children. You are making a positive difference in their lives."

u/top-bit85 expressed, "Her life was easier because she neglected her responsibilities. Good for your niece, writing the truth." u/sea_midnight1411 shared, "You need help and support asap. Call the local child protection services in your area. They’re unlikely to remove the children as you’ve stepped in and started helping out, but they can start coordinating support, putting your sister in parenting classes, and making sure the money from the fathers is going to the children."