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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/snapeyaoilover on 2023-08-09 11:03:23.

Before I begin, I’d like to clarify that I’m not from USA and my family is strictly Asian, so family values may differ for everyone reading this.

So my eldest daughter had always wanted a pet hamster, so we got two (one male, one female, neutered of course) for her birthday. She loved them and showed them off to her paternal cousins (my husband’s sister’s three sons), and anytime they visit our house, they would fawn over the cute hamsters for hours at end. Due to lack of space upstairs, we kept the hamsters downstairs at a spot next to the kitchen.

One day, on one of their visits, I was upstairs folding the laundry and came downstairs to get a drink, only to find that the cage was drowning in water and soggy hamster bedding, and those poor hamsters also partially drenched by the mess and hiding in higher ground. I know for a fact that none of my own kids did it because they were all upstairs taking a nap (after a long day at school doing their annual sports event), The only ones who were downstairs were the three boys, and my housemaid knows better than to meddle with the cage because she has never handled small animals like hamsters before.

Naturally I confronted them all three and asked who it was that wet the cage. None of them admitted to doing it, and my housemaid couldn’t tell me who it was because it all happened when she was out on a grocery run. I made them stand at the corner of the room within my sights and made them watch as I cleaned the cage and lectured them about how dangerous and irresponsible it is to do such a thing especially to small animals like hamsters. I also told them they’re not allowed to leave their spot (not even to sit down) until someone fessed up and come clean.

They literally stood there quietly without saying a word for almost an hour, until their father came to fetch them home after work. When he saw them standing there and me vigilantly watching them while I cleaned the cage, he looked visibly annoyed, especially after I told them the reason I made them stand there. His eldest son, upon seeing his father, started crying and confessed that he was the one who did it, and he did it because his younger brothers dared him to do it. Even more annoyed (obviously at me rather than at his boys), he just quickly took his boys away from the spot, hastily bundled them into the car while muttering angrily at them and drove off.

Later that night, my MIL got an angry text from my SIL that I was being a AH, that even though her kids had done something wrong, I had no right to scold or punish them and that I was making such a big deal about a bunch of “tiny rats”. My MIL was on my side on this, but my SIL insist that I was overreacting and overstepping my boundaries as an aunt-in-law. AITA?