'HALF THE COLLECTION [was] missing': Woman's future nephews force her 8-year-old daughter to hand over her Pokémon card collection, so the woman steals them all back and then some

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Sep 1, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Pokémon cards are for people of all ages. So, when the mother in this next story uses Pokémon cards to bond with her eight-year-old daughter, then finds out her troublemaker nephews stole half of them from her, she becomes enraged and rights their wrongs. What happened to the golden rule? Treat others the way you want to be treated… and that goes for children under 10, too.

You've probably met a child or two who has no remorse for the impolite things they do to others. Depending on the age, this is definitely a parenting issue. If a child is never reprimanded and told to take responsibility for their actions, whether that be in a Montessori manner or otherwise, then they will never learn how to exist in a world that does not exist to give them everything they want. The nephews in this next story are a classic case of spoiled-kid syndrome, and the woman's daughter is at the hands of their greediness.

When the woman finds out her daughter's cards are missing, she immediately does everything she can to get them back—and she proves successful. What would you do in the woman's shoes? Scroll to read the entire story below.

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  • a stack of pokemon cards sitting on top of each other
    via Giorgio Trovato for Unsplash

  • "AITA For Stealing Back Pokémon Cards My Fiancé's Nephews Took (And Possibly Taking Extras)?"

    Hello all, I'm keeping this off my main as my family members know my acct and I don't want them asking me about it just yet.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • To set the background, I'm (29F), my fiancé is (31M), and I have three children (8F, 7F, 5M). Sometime last year my daughter
    via Officer_mama2016
  • Summer (the 8F) started collecting Pokémon cards that her bio-dad would gift her during visitation. I haven't kept up with the fandom as I aged but
    via Officer_mama2016
  • collected coins as a kid and loved the idea of helping my daughter grow her collection. I have also supplemented the collection from
    via Officer_mama2016
  • lucky Goodwill finds. It is about 5 binders worth of cards, with cards from between 1995 to 2018 generally and some are very rare.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • My SIL asked my fiancé if we could babysit her two sons Peter (8M) and Paul (7M) while out of town for the weekend as she has to pick up her husband's nephew for something. I was not keen on this for a few reasons, being:
    via Officer_mama2016
  • 1. Peter has to attend an alternative school for anger issues and outbursts, and though they have become less frequent I wouldn't know how to handle it if something happens.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • 2. Peter has had issues in the past with stealing money from my fiancé and I when we would leave cash out in our room. His mom would get defensive about it but $10 was never something I'd de on a hill for, so I'd usually drop it.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • 3. Peter has also tried stealing my daughter's Pokémon cards in the past or my DBZ cards. I took them back but it blemished my relationship with my SIL a tad.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • Despite all this I hoped the weekend could go smoothly as she needed the help, so me and fiancé agreed.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • However, last night while I was at work Summer called me and asked if she could 'give her Pokémon cards to Peter'. I could hear Peter whispering in the
    via Officer_mama2016
  • background. I was very clear in saying NO because I couldn't advise if there would be a fair trade or if he would take the more valuable cards. Later I asked my daughter if she really wanted to give him the cards and she said no.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • mother consoling her daughter while a young boy watches on the couch
    via Curated Lifestyle For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • This morning while tidying my daughter's room I saw all the Pokémon binders out. I had a bad feeling, opened them up, and discovered HALF THE COLLECTION missing. The
    via Officer_mama2016
  • binders were full but now there were empty pages and scattered cards missing. I was pl ed. I went to Peter's backpack and found some of my DBZ cards, my
    via Officer_mama2016
  • other daughter's full rock collection, and a massive plastic bag with a bunch of Pokémon cards dumped in. I took everything back and sorted my
    via Officer_mama2016
  • daughter's cards from Peter's, though I was just going by the card's print dates as Peter only had cards from 2022 and beyond (so I thought). I put the sorted cards in a lunch box.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • I told my fiancé at the time this, but Peter and Paul have noticed their card stash is much lighter and started whining in saying that their aunt gifted them some older cards that are missing. I'm sick
    via Officer_mama2016
  • and tired of them thinking they can just steal whatever they want from our house. AITA for not giving them any cards back, even if some are actually theirs? I'm worried they'll complain to my SIL.
    via Officer_mama2016
  • TrainerHonest2695 NTA. Honestly, the petty in me says if you accidentally had a few of his cards, it's karma for being a little • If he complains to his mom, I hope she lets him know these are the consequences of being that way, and hope he learns a lesson. If mom comes at you instead, it sounds like a perfect segway to the conversation regarding no future babysitting
    via TrainerHonest2695
  • ScarletNotThatOne NTA but tell your SIL before they do! When there are conflicts among children, it's important for all the parents to work together on this. Just explain that they took tons of your kid's cards, and you did your best to recover the correct cards. They are now claiming that you took some of theirs, but you don't believe them. And even if you did take a few by accident, that's a reasonable consequence for stealing.
    via ScarletNotThatOne
  • And then do not give in or negotiate. You were the parent in charge for the weekend, and you did your best. That's all there is to it.
    via ScarletNotThatOne
  • Officer_mama2016 In the past my SIL never really believed me when these issues were brought up, and when he'd get caught stealing money or cards, she'd seem upset that I was making it known or asking for it to be fixed. We've had other (non-major) issues before and I don't want to seem like there's always an issue with the kids. hhhhhhhhhhhhhh
    via Officer_mama2016
  • amjay8 NTA. You don't know if they're telling the truth anyway. But you do understand that you can't have them in your home again or unsupervised with your daughter, right? It's not fair to your children to let kids that pressure them & steal from them in their home. Your fiancé can see the kids at their house if he wants to help his sister again.
    via amjay8
  • Officer_mama2016 That's the problem, even if they say some of their cards are missing, I literally have no way of knowing. If they hadn't touched our binders it wouldn't have been an issue at all. HI they could have nicked a few and I wouldn't have noticed or cared. But so many were gone and they just tossed them in a big ole bag. ☑
    via Officer_mama2016

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