This Woman Wants To Know If She's In The Wrong For Barring Her Sister’s Family From Coming To Thanksgiving
Her entire family has hand, foot, and mouth disease.
Bringing sick kids to Thanksgiving dinner should be a big no-no when it comes to etiquette and, well, general decency. And yet, so many people still do this! So, what happens when those who don’t want to be exposed to said sick children set boundaries? They get gaslit and villainized. As was the case with one woman who reached out on Reddit to ask for some validation in her decision to refuse her sister’s sick family at the door.
To be very clear: they all had/have hand, foot, and mouth disease!
“So my nephew was diagnosed with hand foot and mouth about week and a half to two weeks ago. We also found out the other day that my sister and her husband have recently contracted it from their son,” she begins in her post on the AITA subreddit before adding that her sister and her family live with her parents.
Now, her parents want to move Thanksgiving dinner to the OP’s house because their house is festoomed with HFM disease. The OP agreed because her parents said that her sister and her family wouldn’t be coming.
Well, that was short-lived because now, the whole gang wants to come.
“I told my mom that I did not want them in my house because they're still contagious at this point. I have four children, one of whom gets sick easily,” she explained before noting that her kids have gotten HFM before, and it was horrible.
“My mom then said that they will be gloved up and sitting at a table separate from everyone else; however, their son will have free roam of my home. He's under two and therefore gets into stuff and still puts things in his mouth. I told them if they were so set on coming to my house for Thanksgiving, why couldn't have it at their house?”
Her mom says they don’t want to host “because then they would have to sanitize everything."
She replied and said it was unfair that they weren't willing to sanitize their house to make clean and okay for others to come, but they wanted to come to my house and infect my household.
“My mom then started to cry said she wouldn't have this conversation with me and hung up,” she concluded. “So am I the asshole for telling my mom that they're being selfish and I don't want them in my house?”
Unsurprisingly, most of the Reddit users sided with the OP.
“I guarantee you they will not attempt a single good practice at preventing the spread of disease. They're just saying that to get what they want. Tell them to have their own diseased holiday this year,” one user said.
Another wrote, “What the actual hell???????
No. 100% NTA and then some.
In fact, I wouldn't let ANYONE in your home, including your parents, because they have been massively exposed. If you want, cook some food and drive it their house and leave it on the porch, and then go back home to your family that is NOT contagious and turn off your phone.
This is irrational beyond comprehension. Your mother can guilt away, but she's willing to get a dozen people sick over this? Stupid.”
Another joked, “Tell those plague rats to stay home! NTA.”
In an update, the OP noted that after some back and forth, her sister’s family will not be coming to Thanksgiving dinner.
“Talked to my dad and sister. THEY ARE NOT COMING OVER. My sister got defensive but my dad put his foot down on my behalf. He's also going to talk with my mom and calm everything down. Thanksgiving will happen some other day when people aren't contagious,” she wrote.
Read the entire Reddit thread here.
