Have you ever been saving up for a significant purchase, only to have someone almost break it after you've already acquired it? No matter, through just carelessness or malicious intent. And what if this expensive item is also indispensable for your work?
Well, the user u/Lazy_Step4766, the author of the story we're about to tell you today, recently encountered a similar situation. And the worst part is, after a huge fight, most of her relatives now blame her. Or, at the very least, consider her to be overreacting. But, well, let's just read it together.
More info: Reddit
Dealing with toddlers is widely considered quite a difficult thing, but in fact, the most difficult part here is dealing with their entitled parents
Image credits: lebsnow / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post is a freelance graphic designer, and she recently bought a $2k laptop for her work
Image credits: ArthurHidden / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Recently, the author's aunt and her toddler son came over to the author's parents, with whom she lives now
Image credits: vh-studio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
After returning to her room from the bathroom, the author was horrified seeing her pricey laptop in the kid's greasy hands
Image credits: Lazy_Step4766
The author yelled at the aunt and demanded she leave the house, but then the angry mom started berating her on social media
So, the Original poster (OP) explains that she's a freelance graphic designer and has recently been living with her parents to save up some money. She definitely needs the money, because she's been saving up for a laptop for her professional work for a long time, and recently bought one, for a whopping $2K. It's absolutely essential for work - no wonder the OP cares so much about it.
So it's no surprise that when the author's aunt and her five-year-old son, Sean, came to visit her parents, our heroine decided to leave the precious laptop in her room. Her little cousin is quite a mischievous boy, so the original poster didn't want to put the laptop at risk. However, when she went to the bathroom for a few minutes, she returned to find her aunt and Sean sitting in her room.
The boy's mom was on her phone, while Sean, his hands sticky with chocolate, slammed the laptop keys, obviously trying to turn on the cartoons. Our heroine's inner Gollum kicked in, screaming, "My precious!" and literally snatching the laptop from her cousin's hands. Then the author yelled at the aunt for barging into her room and letting the kid take her stuff behind her back.
The aunt angrily declared that the OP was clearly putting her property over her cousin, but there was no stopping the author. She demanded that the aunt and her son leave. As a result, the angry mom has now subjected our heroine to merciless criticism on social media, and her parents also believe she overreacted. However, the author disagrees, so she decided to seek support online.
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Obviously, the child is quite innocent here - because, apparently, the mother simply didn't consider it reprehensible for the kid to take other people's belongings without permission. After all, children at this age almost exclusively see their parents as role models. And by age five, a child's sense of ownership should be well-developed.
The authors of this study, published in Annual Reviews, argue that the sense of their own property begins at about two years of age for children, but a full understanding of other people's ownership rights develops at three to five years of age. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes that age 3 is the proper time for parents to teach their kids about property and honesty.
In the situation described, it's quite clear that the toddler's mother hardly believed he had done anything wrong. So, yes, the original poster's outburst was quite inappropriate, but firmly asserting one's personal boundaries and insisting that taking other people's things without permission is not okay - that was right.
People in the comments also supported the original poster and urged her to check whether the laptop had sustained any serious damage after the toddler played with it. According to the author, there was just a small scratch on the screen - possibly from the toddler's fingernails. However, it's unlikely the aunt will compensate her for this damage...
In any case, most responders massively agreed that the original poster acted absolutely correctly in this situation. So do you, our dear readers, also agree with this? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Most commenters, however, sided with the original poster, claiming that it was just inappropriate behavior from her aunt
