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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/ThievingLilSis on 2023-06-23 16:31:30+00:00.

My sister Kenzie constantly steals things. I suspect she has kleptomania. I’m not a psychologist and know I’m not qualified to diagnose her with anything. But Kenzie does show a lot of the signs. I really saw this first hand when I moved back into my parents’ home to quarantine with them. Kenzie would take small trinkets and other things she didn’t need or really even seem to want from my room (i.e. a snow globe) and would become very defensive even if I wasn’t directly accusing her of the theft (i.e. asking her “Have you seen/do you know where the object is?”) If something hadn’t gone missing for a while, Kenzie would be on edge and would become much more relaxed after something disappeared (she stole it.)

I have shared these observations with our parents, and they have directly seen/pointed it out themselves. However, my parents are the type of people who are accepting/supportive of something until it’s being exhibited by one of their kids, at which point they respond by trying to cover it up and pretend it’s not there. Mental health issues and therapy are unfortunately among those things. They refuse to take Kenzie to a psychiatrist or any kind of behavioral therapy. Kenzie has stolen from other relatives and at her school, and my parents have been able to deny it before. But they can’t anymore, as Kenzie recently got into some deep shit in the real world after she was caught trying to steal from a jewelry store.

Kenzie asked the store clerk if she could try on a tennis bracelet. Kenzie waited until the clerk was distracted with another customer before slipping the bracelet into her bag and walking out with it. Kenzie got picked up by mall security. She tried telling them that she forgot she had the bracelet on and it somehow slid into her bag without her realizing it, but they didn’t believe her. My parents begged the store owner not to press charges. The store owner agreed not to, but only after my parents offered them twice the value of the bracelet that Kenzie stole in cash.

Our parents called me because their “solution” is to have Kenzie live with me so that I can have her in “lockdown mode.” So living in an empty room with none of her stuff and not being allowed to go anywhere except for her summer school, and they hope it will scare Kenzie into not stealing anymore. They expect ME to do this because they claim they’re too busy to monitor her themselves and my work schedule happens to coincide with Kenzie’s summer school schedule. I refused. They waited until Kenzie was fifteen to address her issues with stealing, so they need to be the ones to deal with her and should send her to therapy.

I feel I’m entitled to having free time instead of revolving all my non-work time around monitoring Kenzie. Some of my friends told me I should agree for Kenzie’s sake, because my parents may not be able to help her, but I could potentially improve Kenzie’s life for the better and they offered to visit me at my house. AITA For refusing?