A 17-year-old guy, drowning in school walks, homework, and mountains of laundry for eight siblings, snapped when parents announced baby number nine. Ditching every chore sparked hilarious household chaos, turning endless tasks into a bold teen protest.
Parents scrambled amid the disarray, while Reddit cheered the big bro’s stand: hero or havoc-wreaker? This saga of sibling frenzy and petty revenge blends raw frustration with suspenseful fallout in a family whirlwind.
Eldest brother of 7 is parentified and made to do all chores, decides to leave it all to protest when his parents announce they are expecting.
This 17-year-old’s world revolves around wrangling seven siblings (including two adopted ones) through school runs, meals, cleaning, and extracurricular shuttles – tasks his parents label as “chores” but that scream full-time caregiver.
When baby nine was announced, he hit pause on everything, walking solo to school and letting the house descend into kid-fueled mayhem.
His parents fumed, calling him ungrateful and warning the new sibling would feel unwanted, but he stood firm, even looping in a guidance counselor for escape plans like community college or trades.
From one angle, the parents see this as elder-sibling duty in a big, blended crew – providing a home, food, and opportunities despite tight spaces and budgets.
They adopted their late friend’s kids out of love and keep expanding the family, expecting the oldest to pitch in like a team player.
It’s easy to picture them overwhelmed, complaining that stepping in for laundry “stresses them out worse,” framing it as shared burden in a bustling household.
Yet, flip the script: this isn’t light help. It’s offloading core parenting onto a teen who can’t drive, has no car, and tracks everyone’s schedule solo.
His “protest” highlights how the load ballooned, especially with non-school-age little ones demanding constant watch.
Dig deeper, and motivations clash like mismatched socks in that endless laundry pile.
Parents might genuinely believe big families build character, citing gratitude over “poor countries” where kids have less.
But it smacks of convenience – having more kids because the built-in helper absorbs the chaos.
The Redditor has pure burnout, not anti-baby spite. He enjoys the parents’ complaints now, a satirical twist on their earlier gripes. This mirrors parentification, where kids shoulder adult roles too soon, stunting their own growth.
Broadening out, oversized families strain dynamics everywhere, from cramped bedrooms to emotional bandwidth. A 2023 Pew Research Center report notes U.S. households with three or more kids face higher stress levels, with 40% of parents reporting childcare as a major challenge.
In this case, it amplifies inequality among siblings: the young ones never learn chores, while the eldest becomes the default fix-it.
“If you don’t get to experience being cared for as a child without strings attached, later in life, emotional intimacy might feel unsafe and breed resentment,” says licensed therapist and parentification expert Sarah Groskopf, LMFT, in a Verywell Mind feature on parentified children and their long-term relational impacts
This highlights how unmet childhood needs for reciprocal care can undermine trust and closeness in future relationships, fostering bitterness, much like the dynamics in the Redditor’s story.
The Redditor’s role as scheduler and nanny neglects his teens’ need for independence, fueling his walkout. Neutral fix? Parents could rotate age-appropriate tasks (even toddlers tidy toys), hire occasional help via community programs, or cap family size to match resources.
Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:
Some urge OP to plan escape immediately upon turning 18.
Some label parents’ actions as abusive parentification.
Some advise pursuing trades or military for quick independence.
Some warn parents may force ultimatum at 18.
This family fiasco boils down to a teen reclaiming his life from parental overreach, leaving the house in uproar and lessons in boundaries.
Do you think the Redditor’s chore strike was a fair power move against endless expectations, or did it unfairly burden the little ones?
How would you balance big-bro duty with chasing your own dreams in this mess? Share your hot takes!
