Her Parents Want Her To Miss An Event To Watch Her Younger Sisters While They Take Her Brother To A 2-Day Science Fair, But She Is Sick Of Making Sacrifices For Her Siblings
This seventeen-year-old young woman is the oldest of four siblings, and while growing up, she did not have access to many opportunities.
This is because all three of her siblings have had serious health complications their entire lives. Both of her sisters, who are twelve and ten, have special needs as well as severe health conditions. Additionally, her fifteen-year-old brother has severe asthma that affects much of his life.
“And because of all the medical complexities my siblings have, and because a lot of doctors and therapies have been part of their lives for so long, we have never had a lot of money or many great opportunities,” she explained.
Her parents have tried their best to support the family and have reportedly taken any assistance they were offered in the past.
Regardless, though, much of the “extra stuff” that kids hope to participate in was always out of reach for her and her siblings.
For instance, they were never able to participate in any extracurricular activities since her parents could not afford the additional expenses.
So, the only real opportunities for trying new things came in the form of field trips.
Even those trips were dependent on her parents having enough funds, though. and if the field trips were ever overnight, they were not allowed to go.
She and her family also never went on vacations throughout her childhood, and she claims that she specifically missed out on a few huge opportunities because of her siblings’ care.
morrowlight – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
The first time was when she took photos for a class at school. The pictures came out great and were even supposed to be displayed at an art gallery exhibit meant to highlight talented youth.
Unfortunately, though, her parents said they could not afford to visit the gallery or leave her siblings behind for the trip. So, she was forced to turn down the opportunity, and her photos were never displayed at the gallery.
The second time was when her best friend wanted to take her on vacation. Her best friend’s family had even generously offered to pay for all of her trip expenses. To her surprise, though, her parents turned down that opportunity for her.
Apparently, they claimed that they needed her help at home and that her best friend’s family should not have had to pay so much money for her.
Anyway, having to miss all of these opportunities over the years understandably upset her. So, once she turned sixteen last year and was able to get a job, she jumped at the chance– even though her parents were not thrilled.
“We had some disagreements about me working when I started last year. My parents didn’t love it,” she revealed.
“But I wanted to have money. I wanted to be able to afford things and do stuff without being told it was not in the family budget.”
And she did just that. She even saved up enough money to buy tickets to a weekend event that all of her friends were going to– which she was ecstatic about.
Unfortunately, though, it appears that her siblings’ care will be raining on another one of her big accomplishments again.
For context, her fifteen-year-old brother was recently asked to represent his grade at a science fair. The problem, though, is that the science fair is a two-day event that is several hours away from her home.
And for whatever reason, her parents are now willing to make that trek for her brother. Her parents and brother are either going to spend two nights there if they drive home very late on the last night of the fair or three nights if they leave the morning after the fair ends.
Plus, the science fair just so happens to be the same weekend she is going away with her friends.
So now, her parents are pressuring her to cancel her trip to stay home and watch her sisters– a request which she is totally pissed off about.
First of all, she had already made plans with her friends and paid upfront for her own outing. More importantly, though, she does not understand why she should be the one to make more sacrifices.
“I have always had to make the most sacrifices as the oldest. Now, I am in a position where I can do stuff for fun with my own money, and I am being asked to sacrifice for my brother,” she vented.
“Also, for my parents, because they want to use this as a break. Meanwhile, they did not make the same effort for me when I had an opportunity presented.”
So honestly, despite her brother begging her and telling her how much the science fair means to him, she ended up telling her parents no. And now, basically her entire family is furious at her.
Her brother blames her for being the only reason that he is not allowed to attend the science fair.
Her brother has also tried to guilt trip her by saying that, as an older sister, she should want him to have more opportunities than she had.
On top of that, her parents are making her feel bad by claiming that they were looking forward to getting a break.
Plus, they said that it would have been nice to “put a smile on her brother’s face” if she was not so “twisted with bitterness.”
So now, she has been put in a pretty impossible situation. Quite frankly, she believes that after always being the one to put her siblings first over the years, she deserves to enjoy finally enjoy an outing she worked hard for.
At the same time, though, her family’s comments have stuck with her, and she has been left wondering if refusing to sacrifice her event for her younger brother’s science fair is a jerky thing to do.
Do you think it is fair for her parents or brother to expect her to make this sacrifice? Does it matter whether she is the oldest sibling or not? If you were in the same situation, what would you do?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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