Nowhere are Sibling rivalries more intense than in the informal arrangements of who picks up what bill on a family trip away.
Most of us would never criticise another whanau's travel plans. However, one man has divided the internet after getting his sister to pay for the family holiday.
His sister took to Mumsnet to ask the internet if she was in the wrong for wanting her brother to pay his own way on the shared trip abroad with their parents and her two children. To her surprise not everyone agreed with her point of view.
"Last time we went on holiday, I paid all the hotels. I don't mind paying for parents but fully expected brother to pay me back," she wrote.
After a very loose agreement to share some of the costs, she felt left "out of pocket" and didn't know how to broach the subject with him and her parents.
"During the whole holiday, brother paid for one takeaway pizza for us all to share and said that he was happy to buy more if needed," she wrote. "Of course, no one asked for more."
To her shock, having returned from holiday and leaving the sum owing for weeks, their parents sided with him.
"Eventually, DM told him that it was OK and I would not miss the money. (!!!!)"
Clearly a sore point, she took the moral quandary to the UK Mumsnet forum for solutions.
"We are all relatively comfortable with individual salaries of between 50k to 100k," she wrote, however she said she was sick of "paying for someone who can afford their own stuff."
As you can expect many comments sided with the disgruntled mum.
"Don't let them manipulate you into this. You're an adult, a clever and successful one so stand up for yourself," wrote one.
Others called her brother "pathetic" and a same that her parents sided with him over her.
However, not everyone was on the same page.
They said that both siblings were behaving as if they were the kids on the family trip.
"You're not children," one said. "You'll have to forget about the money or ask him for it. That's all. No need to approach your parents, it's him you need to have a word with."
While both siblings have a close-knit relation with their parents, the woman admitted that she rarely speaks to her brother outside of the annual family trips. Other commentators saw communication as the key problem, not her brother.
"Did you TELL him to pay you back? Without communication you can't argue what he should or shouldn't have done," a second said.
