According to recent data, out of over 79 million Americans living in shared households, 14.4 million live with roommates. Sometimes these are close friends, sometimes it becomes the beginning of a beautiful friendship - but often sharing one roof turns into serious conflicts. Simply because people deliberately expect free services and help from their roommates and housemates.
For example, the story we’re going to tell you today was first told in the AITA Reddit community, and its author, while living under the same roof with several housemates, once faced a situation where one of them, it seems, seriously expected her to take care of his 6-year-old son.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post once had to share a house with a couple and a 29YO guy
Image credits: G23 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
That man won full custody of his 6YO son one day - and brought the boy to live with him
Image credits: anonymous
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The kid used to ask the dad's housemates to give him treats and to play with him - but the author didn't have enough time and good will for this
Image credits: anonymous
Image credits: teksomolika / Freepik (not the actual photo)
It all ended with the dad complaining to the landlord, but the author explained the true story
Image credits: anonymous
So the boy went to live with his auntie, but his dad held a grudge against the author, calling her a snitch
So, the Original Poster (OP), in her own words, lived in a house that was divided into three parts, with a bedroom, a bathroom and a small living room each. Accordingly, the housemates shared a dining room, a guest bathroom, and a kitchen. Among the author's neighbors were a couple in their 40s, which we won't talk about today, and a 29-year-old guy named "Cody."
It was with Cody that our heroine had a conflict. The thing is that Cody got full custody of his 6-year-old son “Dean” and brought him home to live with him. But, as it turned out, parental rights are just one thing, and taking care of a kid on your own is quite another. So the boy inevitably began to actively seek out dad's housemates.
When our heroine cooked for herself, he often asked her to feed him, and the OP wasn’t always happy with such requests. The ingredients were quite expensive, so the author told Dean several times to address these pleas to his dad. The same applied to the moments when the boy knocked on her door and said that he was bored. The OP works from home, so she simply asked Dean to knock only in case of emergency.
The situation escalated on Valentine's Day, when the author's boyfriend came to see her with pizza, various snacks and flowers. Dean immediately ran up to them and asked them to treat him to pizza and watch TV together with them. When he was politely but firmly sent home, the boy, of course, was incredibly upset and even cried.
Apparently, Dean's dad complained to the landlord, because later he called the author, and she told him everything as it happened. So Dean was then taken away by his auntie, Cody got completely offended, calling the OP a snitch and nothing else, and our heroine simply decided to ask the netizens how well she handled the described situation and what they themselves would’ve done if they were in her place.
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
"Of course, the child is not to blame for anything here - the boy simply saw in the woman living under the same roof a figure close to his mother. As for the violation of personal boundaries, children at this age often do not yet know how to distinguish these boundaries and understand where they shouldn’t be crossed," says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment.
"Most likely, the father simply thought that the housemate - especially one working from home - could be a free babysitter for his son. And, naturally, he didn’t even ask her opinion. In any case, complaining to the landlord about her behavior was completely beyond the bounds of common sense. And, it seems, the landlord felt the same way."
"Of course, I feel most sorry for the boy in this story, who, apparently, has already had to go through a series of traumatic events - and now faces father's neglect. I still hope that at least the aunt will pay more attention to the child. Although, it’s not entirely clear on what terms they agreed on this with his dad. But that is a completely different story," Irina sums up.
Most people in the comments also sided with the OP and, agreeing that the child in this story is pitiable, couldn’t help but note that the author didn’t hire herself to be the housemate's babysitter. The responders also seriously criticized the hapless dad, trying at the same time to understand what accusations he addressed to the landlord against the OP. So do you, our dear readers, also agree with this interpretation of events?
Commenters unanimously backed the author, claiming that she did everything right in this situation
