Some might say that you have to stand up to your family members no matter what. At the same time, some might highly disagree with such a statement — what if your family member is doing something so wrong you just can’t stay silent? Like this woman who found out that her brother’s new girlfriend is their 16-year-old neighbor. And since the brother is 25 years old, the woman just couldn’t stay silent.

More info: Reddit

What should you do when you learn that one of your family members is doing something illegal, like dating a minor?

Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)

The woman found out her 25-year-old brother was dating their next-door neighbor, who is 16-year-old, and hid the relationship

Image credits: Katie Salerno (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Marina Stoichkova (not the actual photo)

Image credits: u/Sufficient_Box_5350

She told the girl’s parents about the relationship, they called the cops, and many people in the woman’s life accused her of ruining her brother’s life

During one of the family dinners on Sunday, the OP’s 25-year-old brother told everyone he has a new girlfriend named Ann, whom he met on campus. The next morning, the post’s author noticed her brother talking to a next-door neighbors’ 16-year-old daughter named Mary Ann. When they kissed, the OP understood that her sibling’s new girlfriend was a teenage girl she used to babysit years ago.

So, she let her parents know about it, but they dismissed it as a harmless crush. That didn’t satisfy the OP, so she went to the girl’s parents and told them the truth. Contrary to the post’s author’s parents, the girl’s folks had quite a reaction — they called the cops.

It seemed that everyone in the post author’s life heard about this situation. And interestingly, not many were on the OP’s side, and they accused her of ruining her brother’s life and/or being jealous (even though she’s in a committed relationship). In fact, the only ones on her side were a few of her friends and her aunt with a husband. So, the woman came to Reddit to ask whether she was wrong to tell everyone about her brother’s illegal relationship.

Well, quite a lot of people on Reddit took her side, just as a few of the woman’s friends and her aunt had. They praised her for being the only adult in the situation who understood how problematic the relationship was. In their words — the OP saved the girl from immense trauma in the future, which would surface once she understood how inappropriate the relationship was.

Image credits: Mike Greer (not the actual photo) 

The netizens weren’t off when they expressed such a thought. Minors dating older people isn’t a new thing, sadly. And what is more sad is the effect these kinds of relationships have on these minors. 

Minors and adults not only have a gap between their ages number-wise but with regards to their experience and maturity as well. Even if it’s said that the minor is “mature for their age,” it either means that they had to grow up too fast, which can be damaging for their mental health, or it’s simply a manipulation tactic to justify an illegal relationship. 

These relationships usually end in a minor getting traumatized in one way or another. For instance, getting pressured into doing something they don’t want to, being manipulated, getting taken advantage of, and so on. And so, it tends to haunt them for many years to come. 

So, we can agree with the folks online who stated that the woman speaking out about her brother’s wrongdoing possibly saved the neighbor’s daughter from years of trauma. Just as the OP said in her post — what would have happened if the girl had gotten pregnant? So, the post’s author isn’t the one to blame, but her brother is. At the end of the day, he is a full-blown adult and should have known better than to get involved with such a young girl. 

People online didn’t take the path that many people in the woman’s life took, and they praised her for protecting the girl from an immoral and illegal relationship

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