'AITA for not letting my parent’s friend’s kids play my PS5?'
"AITA for not letting my parent’s friend’s kids play my PS5?"
My fiancée (28) and I (27) moved back in with my parents after several years away due to financial issues. It is my mum’s birthday on Saturday and they are inviting their friends and their friends kids (6 & 8). I was told by my mother that I was to keep the children occupied by letting them play on my PS5.
I do not know these children, I told her that I don’t want them to and it’s disrespectful for her to tell me what to do with my personal belongings and that this was a common occurrence that happened back when I did live with them, that I would come to find random children I’ve never met playing my PS3.
My mum was very upset and said “they are our guests”, “it’s not unlike you to not share” and “if I had friends over I would let them play it”. Here is my @$$hole move, I sent a text to my fiancée because I predicted this would happen, but I accidentally sent it to my mum. She isn’t speaking to me right now. Am I the @$$hole?
People weighed in with all of the thoughts.
INFO: are you and fiancée paying rent or contributing financially to the household in anyway other than buying your own stuff??
Do you even have games that are age appropriate for an 8yo??
In the event that said 8yo breaks any part of your system will your parents pay to have it replaced??
Disastrous_Rub5814 OP responded:
1. We don’t pay rent but we pay half the utilities. 2. No but I have PS+ so I could get some. 3. Unsure
Walktothebrook wrote:
NTA. You don’t know these children. Hide the PS5 and then go on a date night with fiancé.
Nervous_Principle_99 wrote:
NTA - PS5/Xbox/computers are expensive. Not only would the kids be using it with no guarantees who would pay if something gets broken, but it keeps you from using it. We all are gamers in my household. I don't even let my 16yo use my controllers because he is rougher than the rest of us. They know not to let others use my stuff. I use my 18yo son's PS5 and he can use my XBox Series X, but he has gentle hands.
But we have given each other permission, I never let his brother use his PS5, and if one of us comes home and wants to use our device, we yield it up. Gamers know never to just let whoever use our stuff, not even in the name of keeping the peace.
Too many controllers get thrown, buttons mashed too hard, consoles shut down incorrectly, and discs scratched. The owner of the device is the one and only person who gets to determine who uses it.
Wandering_aimlessly9 wrote:
NTA. Your mom has no right to decide what happens to something that easily costs 1k between boxes, equipment, subscriptions, games, and such. Nope nope nope. They don’t have that right. But it sounds like living with the rents isn’t a good idea for any amount of time really.
BoundPrincess84 wrote:
NTA. It's your property. She has no right to decide who uses it and she certainly doesn't have the right to TELL you it's your job to keep the kids occupied. That's their parent's responsibility. I would find a way to be out of the house and take your PS5 with you. They're not paying you to babysit and they didn't pay for the game system.
LeChatGrand wrote:
NTA. Lots of people in here going on about how letting a couple random kids loose on a PS5 isn’t a big deal need to ask themselves whether they’re ok letting some kids they don’t know fiddle around with something they own that costs $700+.