‘Keep holding a grudge’: A 16-year-old Childhood Prank Isn’t Forgotten in Adulthood When a Woman Refuses to Help Her Cousin’s Livelihood, Causing Family Tensions

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Briana Viser • Writer and Editor
Oct 11, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen of the internet. As children, sometimes we just don't know any better. I truly believe some children are just born to be naughtier and more mischievous than others. Regardless of how much a parent may try to reel their kid in, make them behave, and teach them lessons, the kid may rebel anyway. 

In this Reddit thread, the original poster (OP) is a woman whose daughter has a 16-year-old grudge against her cousin, and OP supports it. The cousin let the daughter's cat out when they were just 9 years old, as a prank to see what would happen. It's just a cruel prank, and it says a lot about him, even as a child. As they're both adults now, the woman who was pranked still refuses to have contact with him, and it gets to the point where her relationships with other family members are affected by her unwillingness to help him or talk to him. 

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  • 01
    r/AITAH 4 days ago Huge_Eye403 AITAH for telling my daughter she's perfectly entitled to hold a grudge against her cousin who let her cat out (never to be found) as a prank sixteen years ago?
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 02
    16 years ago, my daughter and my nephew were both 9 and were being looked after by sister his mom. My nephew decided to let her cat out just to see her reaction and only confessed to it a day later. He found it very humorous even while she was devastated after we weren't able to find the cat after days of
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 03
    searching. My sister was really apologetic and did her best to discipline him for it but for reasons understandable to everyone, my immediate family never saw my nephew again. He was forced to apologize by his parents which he made very effort to do as sarcastically as
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 04
    possible and even after growing up, never realized that what he did was anything other than a funny prank. From what I know of him, he's barely changed as an adult.
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 05
    In spite of it, we didn't really blame my sister. She never defended his actions and tried to get him mental treatment as an adolescent too. I don't think she was a bad mother, because her other two kids turned out fine. My daughter especially grew close to her when she moved to
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 06
    the same city where my daughter was in college. Both of them and my nephew all live and work there now.
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 07
    Just last week, my sister asked my daughter if she could move in with her for a few weeks or possibly months. My daughter agreed but rescinded it when she realized why: my nephew, his girlfriend and their two kids needed a place to stay after being evicted because of his girlfriend's illegal drug use. My sister offered
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 08
    to let them stay but my nephew's girlfriend hates her so they asked her to move out and let them stay there on their own which she agreed to because the alternative is everyone including the kids ending up homeless. My daughter told my sister that's an insane thing to agree to and tried to convince her to reconsider but
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 09
    my sister was adamant that it was the only choice and she can't let the kids suffer for their parents' choices. Well my daughter said if she wants to be taken advantage of, she can, but she (my daughter) is not going to be a party to it and has no intention to indirectly
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 10
    help out my nephew after what he did to her cat all those years ago.
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 11
    Both of them called me after that, my sister to ask me to tell my daughter to give up her really old grudge and think of the children, and my daughter asking if she's making the right choice. I sided with my daughter and told my sister it would be best for everyone if she joined the rest of us in going NC from my nephew
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 12
    because he's always going to use his kids to manipulate her like this but she thinks we're all wrong for letting his kids suffer due to who he is.
    via u/Huge_Eye403
  • 13
    hummus_sapiens • 4d ago What are the odds cousin and girlfriend will never move out again?
    via u/hummus_sapiens
  • 14
    Aunt is making a huge mistake by moving out. Gf doesn't like her? Too bad. She can suck it up or stay away. It's the aunts friggin flat! NTA Your daughter can hold as many grudges as she likes.
    via u/hummus_sapiens
  • 15
    cdseventyeight • 4d ago • Many people would suggest leaving the past in the past, but your daughter has every right to feel any ways she wants. If someone did that to one of my dogs, I'd carry that grudge to my grave!!!
    via u/cdseventyeight
  • 16
    maroongrad •4d ago • The kids can move in without the adults. Problem solved. Also, anything she leaves behind will be sold unless they're using it, like a gaming station. TVs, blenders, furniture, they'll go
    via u/maroongrad
  • 17
    through every item looking for stuff they can sell and selling the items too. She's going to return to a trashed- out house and it's going to be a mess. Better choice to let them be homeless, call CPS, and get the kids.
    via u/maroongrad
  • 18
    Stealthy-J 4d ago • "Please give me a place to live." "ok" "I hate you, so scram and just let me live here." "ok"
    via u/Stealthy-J
  • 19
    Silvaria928 4d ago • He is obviously a cruel person who feels zero remorse for the pain that he has caused others and I wouldn't want the my house at any age. NTA. in
    via u/Silvaria928
  • 20
    PANDAmmmoni... • 4d ago • It's just flat out baffling to me that the gf hates the aunt so the aunt IS GIVING UP HER OWN HOUSING FOR THEM?! Tell me you're being emotionally manipulated without telling me.
    via u/PANDAmmmoni
  • 21
    AdAccomplishe... 4d ago • I am not even sure it is a grudge. She is mainly saying that she won't enable continue sociopathic behavior. This will ruin OOPS sister, by the way. She is going toose the house
    via u/AdAccomplishe
  • 22
    Kittytigris 4d ago • A) mom is an enabler. She might not agree with her son's behavior, but she's not enforcing any harsh boundaries either.
    via u/Kittytigris
  • 23
    B) your kid is right. She does not need to be a party to indirectly enabling her cousin's awful behavior. C) your sister could just let her grandkids live with her and have the 2 parents figure out their own living situation. They are adults.
    via u/Kittytigris
  • 24
    and it sounds like they're homeless because of their irresponsible behavior. No offense to your sister but how does she think an irresponsible father who does not have any empathy and a drug addicted mother would be decent parents to
    via u/Kittytigris
  • 25
    her grandkids to the point of letting them push her out of house and home?
    via u/Kittytigris

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