If you’re close with your family, you would probably do anything for them. You might happily give your mother a kidney or donate blood to save one of your siblings. But when it comes to distant relatives or new members of the family that you barely know, you might not be willing to make the same sacrifices…
One woman recently posted on Reddit detailing how her father has threatened to take away her inheritance unless she agrees to care for her step-siblings in the future. Below, you’ll find all of the details, as well as a conversation between Bored Panda and the woman who shared this story.
This woman barely knows the children of her father's new wife
Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages/Envato (not the actual photo)
But now, she's being pressured to accept responsibility for them if anything ever happens to her dad
Image credits: GeorgeRudy/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Single-University489
"It was nice to see internet strangers be supportive"
Image credits: Christin Hume/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
To find out more about this family drama, we got in touch with the post's author, Reddit user Single-University489. She was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and discuss whether or not there had been any updates on the situation.
"I'm not sure. As I mentioned in the post, I'm out of the house," the author says. "This conversation happened over the weekend when I had to go home for unrelated reasons and - for better or for worse - my dad refuses to talk at length about stuff like this over the phone (or various messaging platforms). So until I go home again, I won't know."
We also asked the OP how much longer she believes her stepmother will be able to take care of her kids.
"As it stands right now, Kara probably will live (and be healthy enough to care for them) for many more years. She has some underlying conditions, but they seem unlikely to immediately cause her issues," she shared. "As for my dad, it's unclear. Given some serious health issues, he could pass rather abruptly. No one would really know it was coming until it happened. So I'd say unlikely it happens soon, but not impossible."
She also noted that she's spoken to Kara's extended family and understands to a certain degree why her father and Kara don't want them to take the step-siblings in.
"Basically, while they all would have a home, they'd likely get split up to be cared for separately, and Kara wants them to stay together," Single-University489 explained. "I'm actually sympathetic towards this (but it doesn't change my mind). Chris is clearly still trying to play both worlds of 'I'll take them, but I don't want them.'"
And what did the OP think of the responses to her post? "I had a lot of mixed feelings," she shared. "On the one hand, it was nice to see internet strangers be supportive. There's a comfort to it."
Taking care of family members with disabilities is a huge responsibility
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
"On the other hand, I took to Reddit in no small part because... well... Reddit is known for controversial takes and counterpoints," she noted. "If I just wanted to be affirmed, I would've gone to my friends. The only commenter I got that sort of challenged me just didn't understand what internalized biases are."
As the author clearly understands, agreeing to care for family members with disabilities is a huge responsibility that one should take time to consider before making a decision. Even if you love someone, this can require making huge changes to your lifestyle, be extremely costly and require many sacrifices.
If you suddenly need to spend all of your time at home ensuring that loved ones are safe and cared for, you might not be able to work as many hours or keep a full-time job at all. Unfortunately, this can also lead to some social isolation, if you don’t have the opportunity to leave the house and visit friends whenever you’d like.
The CDC recommends that those caring for family members make sure that they have plenty of support. This job can take a lot out of you, and it’s important to never feel like you’re alone or drowning in responsibilities. The person helping their loved ones should remember not to neglect their own self-care and try to delegate tasks whenever possible. It can be incredibly rewarding to take care of a family member, but that doesn’t make it easy.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation below, pandas. What would you do if you were in this woman’s shoes? Feel free to weigh in. Then, you can find another Bored Panda article discussing similar family drama right here.
Later, the author responded to several comments and shared more details about the situation
Many readers shared messages of support and assured the author that she has no obligation to take in her step-siblings
