AITA for making a child cry after setting boundaries!

TW Self Harm

My husband and I have had issues with our neighbors for about 3 months. We’ve repeatedly asked them to leave us alone, but they ignore that request.

Here’s the background: the wife has cheated on her husband with my husband’s friend, has tried to make moves on both me and my husband, and when we’ve rejected her or told her husband about it, she brushes it off by saying, “Oh, I love y’all like family.” The husband drinks heavily, parties a lot, has thrown up on our floor, and even passed out in our yard. We don’t party and don’t want that kind of environment around our kids.

One day I was in the backyard with my kids, and the neighbor sent her kids over to play and came over herself. She asked what they had done wrong, so I told her honestly why we don’t feel comfortable around them anymore. After hearing all this, she told me I made her suicidal. I said that was not my intention, but I wanted her to leave me and my family alone. (This isn't the first time we been over this)

Now that school has started, my daughter rides the bus with their kids. One day when the bus dropped them off, their child said hello to me. I ignored her not to be cruel, but because I didn’t want to give false hope that our families could have a relationship after we’d made our boundary clear. The child cried, and the mom yelled at me, calling me a bad person. Then the dad started texting my husband trying to force us outside to talk and apologize.

I truly wasn’t trying to make a child cry. I just wanted to stick to the boundary we had set.

So, AITA for ignoring their kids after telling their parents to leave us alone?

Posted Aug 14, 2025, 12:36 AM UTC

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