A woman who fed her four-year-old half-sister a vegetarian pizza while babysitting has been left baffled after the tot's mum claimed she was being disrespectful - because the youngster should only be eating vegan dishes.
Posting her story on Reddit, the woman explained her half-sister is the daughter of her father and his current wife - who is the woman's step-mum - and claimed the tot's mum is "extremely health-conscious", and will only feed her daughter food that is both vegan and organic.
Usually, the woman has no problem following these dietary requirements when babysitting the little one, but recently found herself without many options in the house after being asked to look after her sibling at short notice.
With no other options available to her, the woman chose to feed the four-year-old a vegetarian pizza - but was later slammed for not "respecting" her step-mum's wishes.
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In her post, she said: "My dad has a four-year-old daughter with his current wife, my step-mum. My step-mum is vegan and extremely health-conscious after surviving cancer, and only allows my sister food that‘s vegan and organic. She believes that anything else is poisonous and cancerous. I try to be understanding of this, although I myself am not vegan or vegetarian.
"She asked me last-minute to babysit my sister last week and dropped her off at my apartment at around 9:00 am that morning. She initially told me that she’d only be gone for 2 to 3 hours, but didn’t pick her up until almost 2:00 pm due to an appointment running late.
"My step-mum packed a bag that contained only apple slices, a zip bag of cauliflower crackers, and some organic juice. By noon, I was hungry and didn’t want to make myself food without feeding her, and she had already eaten her snacks. My healthy food options were limited, so I made some veggie pizzas for us and gave her juice and fruit snacks as well."
The woman was honest about what she had fed the youngster when her mum came to pick her up, and she was furious, claiming the food was "unhealthy" and refusing to let her babysit until she can "learn to respect" her dietary requests.
She added: "After my step-mum came to pick her up, I told her what we had for lunch and she was upset that I gave her daughter non-vegan cheese and fruit snacks, but referred to everything as unhealthy.
"She thought I should have either waited until she came to pick her up, or given her some of the raw veggies that we put on the pizza to tide her appetite over until she was picked up.
"My dad has since informed me that my stepmom doesn’t want me to babysit again until I can learn to respect her wishes regarding her parenting.
"I can see how I may be the a**hole given that I knew it wasn’t vegan, but then I also tried my best and didn’t just plop a steak in front of her."
The woman later returned to the post to offer more information, including an explanation on why she didn't call or text her step-mum first, and why she didn't run to the store to find more suitable snacks.
She wrote: "I did not call or text beforehand because my step-mum informed me that her phone would be on silent while she was in her appointments.
"I also did not have a booster seat to drive to the store, and food delivery services are expensive where I live, which I don’t really have the extra money for at this moment (broke college students things)."
And commenters on the Reddit post were largely on the woman's side, as many of them pointed out her step-mum should have provided more food for her daughter.
One person wrote: "You took care of a hungry child. If the mum was truly that concerned she could have sent some vegan food to you."
While another said: "If that is the diet she chooses for her child then she needs to provide an adequate amount of food for her child. Her being late is not your problem. She didn't prepare properly and you chose to feed a child instead of letting them be hungry."
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