Man shuts down brother complaining about child support; 'we're sick of hearing it.' AITA?

No one likes to be called out, especially in a way that fully shuts down their favorite activity: complaining. And few people are more likely to call you out than a fed-up sibling. Sometimes, they're unfortunately right to call you out,

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, the OP asked if they were wrong for telling their brother to shut up about child support.

They wrote:

AITA for telling my brother to shut the f@#k up about his child support?

My brother has 50/50 custody with his ex-wife over my nephew (3). My brother makes more money than his ex, so even though they have my nephew the same amount of time, he still has to pay her $100 a month. My brother will not shut the f@#k up about this. He complains about it constantly. When my nephew needed new shoes, she asked him to split the cost of new shoes with her.

He said no and to use the $100. She said the $100 was for monthly expenses, not large purchases. She also threatened to take him back to court. His lawyer advised him to just pay half for the shoes. Ever since then, he brings the child support up every damn day. I told him a few times it was getting old, but yesterday I lost it.

I said 'dude, shut the f#$k up about your child support. Shut the f@#k up. We are all so sick of hearing about this, goddamn!' My brother said I am a rude AH. I think I can only listen to the same thing so many times before I get sick of hearing about it. It's $100. He spends more than that a month on stupid s#$t. It's not like he has cancer or it's $700. Then I would be more sympathetic. Am I rude and an @$$hole?

OP's post inspired a lot of responses.

Bubbly_Chicken_9358 wrote:

NTA. That's such a low order for child support as to be almost insulting. And the fact that he still begrudges paying half for a pair of shoes is disgusting.

ETA: Obviously you could have addressed it in a better way, but seriously, $1200 a YEAR to attempt to make sure your child's standard of living doesn't change just because you got a divorce? What kind of parent is upset about that?

silentwind262 wrote:

NTA. As a dad who never hesitated to support my children, f@#k him. He’s b$%^hing about $100? What a tool. Tell him to step up or give up his parental rights.

angelcat00 wrote:

NTA. That level of whining about child support would make me think that he only has 50% custody to minimize his payments and not because he actually wants to spend time with the kid. He is not paying a $100/month clothing allowance. He is paying $100 a month to help the child's mother make sure the child is getting the same level of care and housing with both parents.

BethsMagickMoment wrote:

A $100.00 a month is not much! $25.00 a damn week! You can’t even go to the store and buy something decent for a meal and he is harping on the little bit of child support that she gets for their child, his son? Ohhh parents like this make me so angry!

DesertSong-LaLa wrote:

NTA - He is delusional to think having a kid is a no-cost experience. Your statement is fine. Tell him his complaint is saying, 'My child does not deserve housing, food, light, electricity, bedding/towels'...cause this is what his money is paying.

He is fixated on the wrong things. He should be socking away more in savings to take care of future expenses like his kids dental needs/medical bills, sport uniform or other after-school activity, day care/after school care...this is a mere fraction of the full list.

OP is most definitely NTA, but their brother absolutely is.