Dad freaks out when his brother refuses to volunteer his wife's non-existent “free time” to help their nephew thread a sewing machine: ‘She barely gets an hour to herself’

Do you ever Google your problems?

Yeah, most people do, it's how we solve problems in our modern world. Oftentimes, googling something is the quickest way to learn a new skill and foster new hobbies, and while it is nice to have a real person teach you how to do something, it's also probably faster to just look it up yourself.

A pair of parents were really excited about their son's newfound hobby of sewing with a sewing machine. Knowing that their sister-in-law was proficient with her own sewing hobbies, they reached out to her husband to see if she could spend some time with their son to teach him. Unsurprisingly, this auntie is also an extremely busy working mom and rarely has any free time to herself, so her husband politely declined.

Then the parents freaked out.

Expecting their sister-in-law and brother to bend over backwards to foster their kid's hobby, they expected her to leap at the chance to spend her one free hour per week threading a sewing machine. Lucky for her, she had a husband who refused to volunteer her last shred of free time for something that the parents could easily look up and figure out on their own.

Sure, it would be nice to learn from Auntie, but she is very busy right now, Bud.

Parents have to understand that while their kid comes first in their lives, they don't always come first in the lives of others. Free time for any adult is just as important as fostering new hobbies. It's all about finding that healthy balance between helpfulness and self-care; that's the sweet spot for parents that is often missed. Keep scrolling to read how this couple stood firmly together against a pair of pushy parents, protecting their boundaries and prioritizing their free time over something that could have been easily googled. Trust me, either way, this young boy is going to learn how to use the machine, and kids these days are more than proficient online to find a simple sewing machine tutorial on YouTube within seconds of searching their keywords…

via Canva+ (Flamingoimages)

Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
AITAH for not volunteering my wife to help my brothers kid?
So this happened a few days ago, May 10th, 2026. Mother’s Day of all days 😓
I got a late night call from my brother “Greg” asking if I could ask my wife “Christie” if she could take time out of her schedule to help my nephew thread a sewing machine. (Honestly a quick YouTube search)
via Getty Images (weekend images)

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My wife’s schedule between work and our two kids is about 6am-8:30pm and she barely gets an hour or so to herself because I work most days during the week. (Also we only have one car and I’m gone most of the day)
I tried to tell him this and he says “that’s bizarre, guess I’ll talk to you later”
Not even a full ten minutes later and my sister in law “Hannah”(his wife) goes on an unfiltered rampage over several rapid fire texts saying how I need to be more of an adult and this isn’t how family helps each other.
In the 20+ years I’ve been working with/for them almost every single interaction with them has almost been purely transactional.
AITAH for not volunteering my wife for something she definitely doesn’t have time for or honestly doesn’t really want to do?
via Getty Images (weekend images)

Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
(For the record, the relationship between my brother and I has been tenuous at best since I stopped working for him about a year ago.)
via 2BitTommy
CheerUpCharliy
There are literally arrows on most sewing machines to tell you how to thread them and if not there's google. It literally took him and his wife longer to text you all that nonsense than it would have to just give it a go themselves.
2BitTommy OP
Omg yes! It could have been resolved so much quicker on their end
Goofusmaloofus6
This is ridiculous. There's no reason your brother (or his wife or your nephew) couldn't take 3 seconds to Google "how do you thread a sewing machine", then 30 seconds to watch any of of the hundreds of videos showing them how. Good on you for having your wife's back and your SIL can go kick rocks.
TheRealCarpeFelis
What they really need is to find the manual for that specific machine. I’ve used a number of different sewing machines and they aren’t all the same.
Autumn_Falls0131
Yes, and they can find sewing machine manuals online, just type in the brand/model number and look it up.
Op should text them a link.