Teen forced to share room with cousin from foster care, she snaps 'I can't do this.' UPDATED.
Sharing a room is tough for anyone, but it's extra hard when it's sprung on you with no notice.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a teen girl asked if she was wrong for telling her parents someone else should have to share a room with her cousin. She wrote:
"AITA for telling my mom it needs to be someone else's turn to share a room with my cousin?"
My 10-year-old cousin has been living with us since March. She was also in foster care for 6 months before living with us. We have a 4 bedroom house and there's me (14f), my brother (16m), my sister (17f) and my parents so there wasn't an extra room for her. We're converting our old playroom to a bedroom but until that happens she's sleeping in my room because we're closest in age.
Sharing a room with my cousin is exhausting. She refuses to leave the room for anything after my mom tucks her in until my mom comes to get her so if she's hungry, scared, needs to go to the bathroom, feeling sick, etc. she always wakes me up then I have to get my mom so my mom can take care of it.
She also randomly hides under her bed and cries so I always have to drop what I'm doing to get my mom to take care of that too. The other night she woke me up because she wanted my mom. She could've gotten her herself but she always insists on waking me up and asking me to get her.
I got my mom because she could've cried all night if I didn't then the next morning I said it should be someone else's turn to share with her until her room is ready and that I'm sick of being woken up because she's scared to leave her room after bedtime. My dad said that her room should be ready soon and they're not moving her to another room.
I said it's bulls#$t that they're making me babysit their niece all night and my dad threatened to ground me if I didn't shut up. AITA for saying somebody else needs to share a room with her?
The internet did not hold back.
StAlvis had a question:
NTA.
"We're converting our old playroom to a bedroom but until that happens she's sleeping in my room because we're closest in age."
"My dad said that her room should be ready soon and they're not moving her to another room."
How the hell is this taking any time at all?
How to convert a playroom to a bedroom:
Set up a bed.
You're done!
And OP responded:
It doesn't work like that because she was in foster care. They have to convert it to an actual bedroom with 4 walls and a closet and a door and windows and they have to get permits for everything.
-Onion_Kid- wrote:
NTA, it's not fair your parents are putting the burden solely on you. Your dad is especially the AH when he basically told you "shut up and deal with the consequences of my actions." If she doesn't get tucked in, will she think it's not bed time and be able to leave the room any time during the night?
AngraManiyu wrote:
NAH, I do see how this is exhausting. What even happened to her? She sounds quite traumatized and is being clingy because of it, not much you can do about that tbh besides what you did and waiting it out.
And OP responded:
I don't know what happened with her bio parents but I heard that her foster parents used to lock her in her room at night.
Smart_Measurement_70 wrote:
Why wasn’t the solution for you to share with your sister for the time being, while cousin gets their own room? NTA, but I’m side-eyeing your parents who clearly did not prepare well enough to take in this kid, or at the least didn’t brief their own kids well enough on what to expect.
OP is NTA here, this is just a difficult situation all around.