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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/Just-Chair2835 on 2023-08-13 11:18:24.
Background - I (31F) have a 3 year old daughter, with my husband (32M). My stepsister Abby (33F) has a 2 year old daughter, Lexi, with her husband Brad (34M). Brad has a daughter, Daisy (8) that he shares with his ex. My stepbrother James (22) has a boyfriend, Carlos (25).
We are all, along with our parents, on holiday at a beach resort. Two days ago, in the evening, Abby and Brad asked me if I would babysit Daisy the next day so that they could get some much needed respite and they wanted to go into town for the day. I said absolutely not.
Daisy has behaviour issues. You can’t go more than an hour without her crying and screaming about something. She’s extremely territorial, she doesn’t seem to have any impulse control, and she never has a nice word to say about anything or anyone.
Abby and Brad begged, saying they asked everyone else but they had plans. I said be that as it may, I had my own daughter to look after, and I was on my own holiday. I asked why they didn’t get a babysitter from hotel staff but Brad said leaving Daisy with a babysitter always results in them getting called home early, normally because Daisy has cried so much she’s made herself ill. Eventually they let it go.
The day after, I didn’t hear from Abby so presumed they’d found a solution. It was a quiet day and at about 3pm we returned to our suite. Shortly after we got there, there was a knock on the door. It was Daisy. She said she was bored and wanted to come in. I asked where her dad was, and it turned out Abby and Brad had gone into town and left Daisy in the room by herself with strict instructions not to go outside.
I walked Daisy back to the room as I tried to get ahold of Abby and Brad but the calls kept getting rejected. I left them several messages. I was so appalled, all I was really thinking was that they absolutely didn’t deserve for me to clean up this mess for them. I took Daisy down to reception and told them that her parents had left her alone in the room and I found her wandering the place unsupervised. I left her at reception as they said they would bring her down to the kid’s club until they could locate Brad.
We were all due to meet for dinner at 8.30, and when Brad and Abby arrived, they berated me for reporting them to the hotel. They said Daisy would have been perfectly safe if she’d just followed the rules so they weren’t at fault. They also said I should have just let her stay with me until they came back. I said they deserved what they got for doing something pretty hairbrained and dangerous and it wasn’t up to me to help them avoid the consequences of their actions. I told Brad he was an irresponsible parent and he should have stayed at the resort.
Things are now very tense. Opinions are split within the family. AITA for what I did?