Aunt locks her bedroom to avoid her 11-year-old nephew from breaking his collectibles, hurting the little boy's feelings, her brother says: ‘[she] was more concerned about plastic than the boy's mental health.’

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  • I live alone. Two weeks ago my family came over for dinner, my parents, my brother, his wife and their son who's 11. I have a separate room where I keep my lego sets, funko figures and a couple of other collectibles. To some people it's just plastic, but some of these items are expensive, some are already discounted and I've been collecting them for years. My nephew caught a glimpse of the room out of the corner and
  • Visual representation of figurines displayed on a shelf.
  • asked if he could take a look. I said yes, but only with me after dinner. The reason is simple, he's not very careful and not listening to what adults say. Even though I had explicitly ordered him not to, he had previously opened one of my Funko boxes at my house. My brother said at the time that he didn't know any better and was simply interested. So I locked the room and went back to the table. I think my nephew saw that, because he got
  • quieter, but he didn't say anything. After dinner, I took him to the room myself. I showed him figures in my collection. I also gave him a brand new Funko figure that I had just purchased but hadn't had a chance to store. I believed that everything was well. But the next day, my brother called and made a huge scene. He said that I had embarrassed his son by closing the door, that I didn't trust a youngster who was almost grown up and that I was more concerned
  • about plastic than the boy's mental health. I told him I didn't forbid him from watching it. I just wanted to be there because these are my things in my house and we had unpleasant precedence in the past. Now my brother says I turned an ordinary kid into a criminal and our relations are a bit tensed.
  • Model image of an orange Pokémon figurine.
  • CyberClawX I agree, NAH. Even though I'd act like OP, because honestly, I do care more about the objects than everyone's else's feelings for wanting to mess with my objects. It's not up to me to make sure everyone's mental state is nice and cozy. I protect my own mental state by not having my sh wrecked. I know I can be a bit of an A H about it.
  • Healthy middle ground might be to ask if brother is willing to replace valuable collectibles if the kid ruins them in the future. And to throw the value of some examples out there (not necessarily something in the collectionas kids can have sticky hands as well, just mentioning Funko Pop X is valued Y in box, or Shinny Charizard is worth Z in mint condition).
  • InspectorOrdinary321 NTA. You didn't yell at your nephew. You didn't say he's a criminal or untrustworthy. You just locked the door. You didn't even do it without context he has a history of ruining -- your things. And you didn't even make a big deal about that.
  • You locking the door is simply some gentle natural consequences for your nephew previously ruining your things. If your nephew is annoyed, it might be because he wanted to go in your room and play with your things again, and he couldn't. And if your brother is the annoyed one (and nephew doesn't care) it's because he disapproves of your collection and
  • thinks your nephew should be allowed to play with it -- even ruin it. You were right to lock the door.
  • WholeAd2742 ΝΤΑ You didn't trust him, because he's been untrustworthy. Your brother needs to teach his kid about respecting other people's property and homes.
  • The kid is also plenty old enough at 11 to be talked to directly about this and exactly why you locked the room. They're doing no favors letting him act like a toddler
  • BikingAimz NTA, as guests in your house, your house your rules. You didn't cause a scene, you prevented one based on previous behavior.
  • charmed1959 NTA. But it does sound like perhaps your brother and his son shouldn't be invited to your house to protect the 11 year olds mental health, and yours.
  • Tattooed_book_nerd NTA. I've seen/heard of too many instances where kids "were just being kids” and destroyed things because they were curious. You protected your peace and your LEGO collection. Tell your brother unless he has the funds readily available to be able to replace those that broke or find the ones that have
  • been discontinued, he can shut his hole. LEGOs aren't cheap. They're also a labor of love and commitment. You protected your space. Your space, your rules. If they don't like it, they don't have to come over.
  • Clean_Gold_2380 Maybe times have changed from when I was a kid, but if an adult told me to "stay out of the room" or "don't touch that" ... as an 8 year old, I listened. If I didn't, there were consequences. 11 is not grown by any means BUT they know right from wrong. NTA - your house, your rules.

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