When family comes over, most people expect a little noise and mess — it comes with the territory of kids running around. But one mom is wondering if she’s being too harsh after deciding she wants to ban her niece and nephew from entering her 7-month-old daughter’s room because they constantly leave it in chaos.
The story was originally posted to Reddit’s Am I The A**hole (AITA) forum, where the woman asked if she was wrong for drawing this boundary.
The Situation
The original poster (OP) explained that her husband’s brother frequently visits their home with his two kids: a 2½-year-old daughter and a 5½-year-old son. To make their visits enjoyable, OP and her husband have set up plenty of areas for the children to play — including a backyard play area, a living room play space, and a basement where the kids can run around freely.
But despite these options, the kids always end up in the baby’s room.
“Every time they visit, they go into my 7-month-old’s bedroom and completely trash the place,” OP wrote. “They’ll pull everything off her shelves and make a total mess. What bothers me even more is that their dad goes in there with them, sits down, and just lets it happen. They don’t clean up afterward either, so I’m left to do it.”
Why It Bothers Her
For OP, it isn’t just about cleaning up toys or rearranging a messy room. She feels like the baby’s bedroom should be a private space, not a free-for-all play zone.
“I’ve already cleaned up for them in other spaces in the house, and it really upsets me that they go into my daughter’s room and wreck it,” she explained. “Bedrooms are private, and people shouldn’t enter them unless invited.”
Now, OP is conflicted. She doesn’t want to come across as the “bad guy,” but she also doesn’t want her daughter’s room destroyed every time relatives visit. She asked Reddit if she was wrong for wanting to ban her niece and nephew from entering.
What Redditors Said
The majority of commenters strongly supported OP’s instincts.
“Tell them flat out they are not allowed in that room. Lock the door. Tell them that if they are not going to clean up after their kids, they need to stop coming over. You are not their maid,” one person wrote.
Others pointed out that OP’s husband should be stepping in to enforce boundaries with his family.
“NTA, but why isn’t your husband saying anything? It sounds like you have a lot of areas for them to play and be comfortable,” one commenter said. “They may have been excited to see the baby’s room and gotten too comfortable, but moving forward, tell them that space is off-limits.”
Another agreed: “Get your husband to tell his brother that the kids cannot be in your baby’s room. If he asks why, your husband should tell him that he allows his kids to make a mess and does nothing about it. If his brother promises to change, then maybe reconsider, but until then, it’s a firm boundary.”
Read Also: Mom Bans Kids from Watching Bluey, Criticizes Show for Promoting Naughtiness as Funny
The Bigger Picture
Many Reddit users also noted that OP shouldn’t feel guilty about protecting her home — and her peace of mind. With plenty of kid-friendly play spaces already available, there’s no reason her daughter’s room needs to be one of them.
One commenter even suggested a practical solution: “If they push back, you could say that it’s where the baby sleeps and you want to keep it free from outside dirt and germs. That’s a perfectly reasonable rule.”
Final Thoughts
This post highlights a common tension that arises when family members have different parenting styles and levels of discipline. While OP doesn’t want to create conflict, most agreed that it’s perfectly reasonable to set clear boundaries in her own home — especially when it comes to her infant’s room.
Reddit’s verdict? OP is not the ahole. But her husband needs to step up and enforce the boundary with his brother so she isn’t stuck cleaning up the mess — literally and figuratively.
What do you think? Should OP put her foot down and ban her niece and nephew from the nursery, or is that going too far? Share your thoughts in the comments on cheapnailsalonsnearme.com.