Of course, it’s totally reasonable to put child-proof locks on things around your house if you’re going to have CHILDREN around, but what if you do it to keep another adult from getting into certain things?
Yeah, that’s pretty unusual, huh?
And this woman wants to know if she’s an a**hole for doing this to her stepsister…who is an adult.
Take a look and see what’s going on here!
AITA for putting child-proof locks on the stove to stop my adult sister from using it?
“I (f19) live with my stepsister Nicole (f20). We live together in a small two bedroom apartment whilst we both attend the same college. Our hometown is a small rural area that’s around a 3 hour drive away.
My dad married Nicole’s mother around 11 years ago. Nicole and I know each other pretty well and have spent a lot of time together. We haven’t always gotten along (which siblings have?) but we do consider each other sisters.
Anyway, onto the story.
So me and Nicole both got sick of dorms and moved in together around two months ago.
Back at home, Nicole never cooked for herself (not beyond microwave meals, anyway) and now that we’re both supposed to be living independently, she’s started cooking.
Nicole keeps “forgetting” to turn off the stove or oven when she’s finished with them. At one point, this nearly caused a full-blown house fire when she forgot about the stove whilst a paper plate of hers had been left on top of it.
I kept gently reminding Nicole to turn off the oven/stove when she’s done with them but she just doesn’t seem to listen. I even tried putting sticky notes around the kitchen to try to remind her.
Eventually, Nicole got irritated with the reminders and told me I’m treating her like a child. I said I’m sorry if it came off that way but she needs to remember.
The problem has just kept persisting and a near miss with a house fire happened again when Nicole forgot about the stove, and she didn’t hear the smoke detector because she was blasting music on her airpods. Luckily I noticed it and was able to put it out.
I tried to have a talk with Nicole and told her this needs to stop. Nicole just got mad before I could even suggest anything and told me to get off her case. She said I’m overreacting and that she “can handle it”. She refused to listen to anything I had to say and kept talking over me.
This has started to make me really anxious, especially when Nicole is home whilst I’m out.
I bought some plastic child locks for the knobs that control the stove and oven, and I placed them on there. I know Nicole can’t open child-proof stuff.
This way, she can’t use the stove or oven when I’m out of the home. When I’m home, I can make sure nothing bad happens. Me and Nicole have similar class schedules so this shouldn’t inconvenience her too much.
Nicole went ape s**t when she noticed them, and started screaming at me and told me I’m a control freak and bullying her. I yelled back at her and told her I wouldn’t be doing it if she could act like a responsible adult. Nicole called me a b**ch and said I have no business controlling when she gets to cook.
She’s now gone to a friend’s place and has blocked my phone number. My dad and stepmother got concerned after getting texts off Nicole and they keep messaging me about it, telling me I need to get Nicole to come back.
Am I the a**hole?”
Now let’s see what people had to say about this on Reddit.
This reader said she’s NTA in the slightest.
Photo Credit: Reddit
Another Reddit user said there might be some kind of competence issue going on here.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And this individual said they think that there might be some serious entitlement and issues going on here.
Photo Credit: Reddit
What do you think about this story?
Tell us what you think in the comments.
Please and thank you!
