Dad stalls on giving back Lego figurines to brother's teenage kids after his 8-year-old son takes them, faces payback: 'I saw him for coffee and I reminded him that I wanted all our stuff back'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Oct 31, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

It's fair to say that some people have a very liberal idea of what constitutes 'borrowing'. They are a little too comfortable with the idea of taking and not giving back. This is the kind of behavior you may grow to expect from a flaky, so-called friend, but sometimes it stings even worse when a family member decides to pull this trick. Does being a blood relative mean nothing?

This is something that one man grappled with when he invited his brother and his family over to his house, leading to his nephew taking some of the Lego figurines he and his kids had placed around the house. While his brother insisted that he would give them back the next time he saw him, he kept stalling and it was then that the dad decided to let his children take things into their own hands while at a BBQ at this brother's. It's fair to say his sibling didn't appreciate a taste of his own medicine. 

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  • 01
    EPEN ΠΗΓΗ ΓΗΓΗΣ
    via Nik
  • 02
    AITAH for letting my kids loot my brother's house to prove my point.
    via Some_Addition_9752
  • 03
    My brother and his family came for a visit last month. My kids and I play with lego and we have fun leaving little dioramas around my house. Just silly stuff like a fight between Ironman and Darth Vader on the loot llama. It's just our way of leaving Easter eggs around the house. My nephew really liked them and decided to take a few home. When we noticed they were missing I asked my brother to bring them back. He said that it was just kids being kids and that he would them back the next time we
    via Some_Edition_9752
  • 04
    I saw him for coffee and I reminded him beforehand that I wanted all our stuff back. He "forgot" to bring the "toys". Okay. Game on. We went over to his place for a BBQ. I told my kids that unless all our stuff was returned to us when we got there literally anything in the house was fair game. Like the godless barbarians they are they went to town. When we left I don't think there were any remotes, small electronics, or beer mugs left at his house. I actually had to sneak the dog back into the h
    via Some_Addition_9752
  • 05
    I started getting calls on our way home. I ignored them. When I got home I returned his calls. He said a bunch of stuff was missing from his house. I said I would check with the kids. He said that I well knew what happened and that he wanted his sh back. I said I would box it up and return it the next time we saw eack other. As long as we got our lego back.
    via Some_Addition_9752
  • 06
    He was at my house with my Lego later that evening. He had even accidentally included stuff that wasn't ours. I returned it and his stuff. I told him that this is how we would be dealing with his kid in the future. He is p ed off that he had to make a special trip to return my stuff. My parents think that there is a huge difference between an eight year old taking Lego minifigures and a couple of teenagers pillaging their uncle's house. AITAH?
    via Some_Addition_9752
  • 07
    Whereswolf I love that they even got the dog *lol* An 8 yo know not to take toy/stuff from others. Well played
    via Whereswolf
  • 08
    Euphoric-Beyond8728 When I was roughly that age I stole my friend's Pokémon cards. I got home with them and was acting super shifty. My mom caught on, and pretty quickly extracted a confession, which I gave with many tears. Her response was to march me down the block, still crying, and make me hand them over to my friend with an apology. Haven't stolen anything since then.
    via Euphoric-Beyond8728
  • 09
    Quite AlmostNotABot Yes, giving it back and apologising is the right thing to do to teach a kid not to steal.
    via QuiteAlmostNotABot
  • 10
    bigben7102 NTA this is a case of for tat and you got your stuff back
    via bigben7102
  • 11
    Aminar14 Except it wasn't even for Tat. It was very obvious there was no intention to keep the objects taken from the brothers house. It was an object lesson.
    via Aminar14
  • 12
    Sweet-Fancy-Moses23 Lol...the "godless barbarians" understood the assignment.The brother should be teaching his kid to behave better and not take things.
    via Sweet-Fancy-Moses23
  • 13
    SockMaster9273 ΝΤΑ Wouldn't have to go that far if he just gave you your stuff back.
    via SockMaster9273
  • 14
    AdAccomplished6870 Thing is, until the Great Pillaging, the brother had no intention of returning the stuff. It was going to be 'I forgot' a few more times until it was 'Little billy is really attatched to the toys and teenagers shouldn't be playing with legos' This was a good, proportionate response.
    via AdAccomplished6870
  • 15
    PM_ME_GARFIELD_N DES Especially considering how easy and quickly the brother was able to gather the stolen toys and return them when he was given actual incentive to do so. I was expecting the kids to have lost the toys and the brother was just avoiding the issue, which would have been a different can of worms, but brother was just being lazy.
    via PM_ME_GARFIELD_NDES
  • 16
    Mundane-Device-7094 NTA Tell your parents the biggest difference here is that you immediately returned his things instead of trying to keep them until he decided it wasn't worth it anymore. Yeah the kid shouldn't take stuff but your brothers response is the biggest issue.
    via Mundane-Device-7094
  • 17
    Decent-Historian-207 Your brother knew you guys were coming over for a BBQ - so he could have had your belongings boxed up and handed to you to put in the car when you showed up. Instead, he just didn't do anything and had to make a special trip. Sounds like you mentioned it to him a few times, and he just brushed it off. Maybe he should actually return things that don't belong to him. NTA
    via Decent-Historian-207
  • 18
    Carbon-Base His brother will be sure to return things from now on, since OP established a very effective loot and balance system.
    via Carbon-Base
  • 19
    Logical_reception89 My parents think that there is a huge difference between an eight year old taking Lego minifigures and a couple of teenagers pillaging their uncle's house. It stopped being about the eight year old the exact second your Brother decided to "forget" the lego when you met for coffee. Your brother (their son) is the problem, maybe tell them that ΝΤΑ
    via Logical_reception89
  • 20
    rawesome99 You're the a hole in the most endearing, passive aggressive, sibling rivalry sort of way. Shots are fired now, so I'd be on the lookout for your brother. Wonder what your wives say about all this.
    via rawesome99
  • 21
    TeenzBeenz Once my kids and I drove a couple of hours to visit their cousins. On the way back home, I discovered that one of my children had taken a couple of their small toys (cars). I turned the car around immediately and suggested they apologize. This is the way.
    via TeenzBeenz
  • 22
    ano-ba-yan My 4 year old came home from preschool and was excited to show me a shell that she "found" in her classroom. Upon some probing, it was actually her classmates that she "forgot" to give back. It wasn't that hard to explain what stealing is, how it makes people feel, and go back the next day and return the shell with an apology. I consciously stole a lip gloss from a store when I was 5, and my mom made me go back to the store and pay for it and then kept it in the junk drawer. I had to
    via ano-ba-yan
  • 23
    canadagooses62 Excellently done. Those gremlins even took the dog. Hilarious.
    via canadagooses62

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aita stolen lego toys kids brother parenting family reddit thread Reddit
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