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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have asked my parents for a lift home?

620 replies

coldabdtired · 10/12/2025 19:08

I’m 25, and live at home with my parents. I drive but use public transport for work because it’s cheaper than parking.

tonight the bus home is delayed by 45 minutes. I worked 9-6:30, I was hoping to get on the 7:15 bus but it won’t be at my stop till 8.

i texted my family chat saying I know it’s cheeky but was anyone able to give me a lift if I walked to a different stop and got on a different bus because it was cold and I left the house before 7. My mum has come back and said that I’ve been really selfish to ask as they’re in their pyjamas but they’re going to feel guilty for saying no now because they know I’m tired and cold.

AIBU to have asked? I never ask for lifts anywhere, I drive or get the bus.

OP posts:
TorroFerney · 11/12/2025 12:11

Anactor · 10/12/2025 22:34

In the real world, a delay of 45 minutes is long enough to make most people start looking for transport alternatives.

Also in the real world, parents coming to pick their adult children up is quite normal.

You’re not the OPs mum, are you?

Well she is ops mum in terms of lack of emotional intelligence.

Userjal · 11/12/2025 12:10

I think I live on a a different planet to some people on here sometimes. Am i absolutely crazy to think it’s ok to ask a family member, friend etc for a lift home when it’s the middle of winter and you’ve been at work all day! Obviously it’s fine to ask someone, they can say no but that’s pretty mean. If you can make someone’s day a little less shit just help them out. It’s really not that deep

travelallthetime · 11/12/2025 12:08

not sure what happened on this thread but the Grinch's are amusing if nothing else
I have two kids and the bus was going to be 30 minutes late last weekend so I went and picked them up....in my pj's and oodie.....isnt this what we do for each other?
I think next time they want a lift, your stock response should be no and that you are annoyed as you now feel guilty so they should stop asking.
As for living at home....not many single 25 year old can afford to move out. I can imagine my two still being here at 25 and I think that perfectly fine. Paying under market rate....well of course they will be, they are my children, in fact, I will be putting their 'rent' into a separate account and giving it back to them when they move out!

KittyFinlay · 11/12/2025 12:06

She's annoyed because she wanted to not have to come and get you and also not feel guilty about refusing to help her child out in the smallest way.

Amsooverthis · 11/12/2025 12:06

I often offer lifts to my adult offspring, what you asked was completely reasonable and you got a mean and miserable response. I'm not surprised you were pissed off. What a miserable end to a long work day for you. Hope things improve today and next time they ask for a lift, forward onto them their text from last night 😂

AngelicKaty · 11/12/2025 12:03

Ramblethroughthebrambles · 11/12/2025 11:45

I think the problem was that communication was too emotive on both sides. You were probably just trying to justify and explain the request by mentioning that you were tired and cold, but I bet it came across to your parents as an attempt to pull the heartstrings, which pissed them off even though they felt, as your parents, that they shouldn't leave you in the cold. They could just have said no though, instead of trying to reverse the guilt! I'm your parents age and adult children coming back to live with you is a tricky dynamic. At the same time as wanting to support them, it's easy to feel taken advantage of. If your relationship with them is generally good, I wouldn't read too much into this.

OP hasn't "come back" to live with her parents - she's never left (nor has her brother) which is unsurprising given the availability of affordable housing in the UK. In 2022 the average age for an adult child to leave home was 25, but the average age for them to move back in ("boomerangers" or "re-nesters") was 26.
Our generation (Boomers) is the luckiest to have ever lived, but there are too many Boomers who fail to recognise how hard life is for younger generations, especially wrt housing.

CuriousKangaroo · 11/12/2025 11:51

You have been given an unnecessarily hard time on here, @coldabdtired. What you asked was completely reasonable and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it for DC. Despite being in my 40s, my dad still offers me a lift from the station when I go to see my parents!

It’s also fine for you to be living at home. Things are so much harder for people your age than they were even when I was younger. Massive uni debts, ridiculous housing costs as a result of under building whether buying or renting, raging energy prices, etc. some people cannot seem to grasp that everything has rocketed above inflation and that it isn’t the same as it was when they were young.

MN has a weird contingent of parents who seem to think that the minute their children turn 18 they should be chucked out (or pay substantial rent to live at home) and they don’t even owe their kids frankly even basic human kindness - and they seem to be out in force on your post! Ignore them.

Ramblethroughthebrambles · 11/12/2025 11:45

I think the problem was that communication was too emotive on both sides. You were probably just trying to justify and explain the request by mentioning that you were tired and cold, but I bet it came across to your parents as an attempt to pull the heartstrings, which pissed them off even though they felt, as your parents, that they shouldn't leave you in the cold. They could just have said no though, instead of trying to reverse the guilt! I'm your parents age and adult children coming back to live with you is a tricky dynamic. At the same time as wanting to support them, it's easy to feel taken advantage of. If your relationship with them is generally good, I wouldn't read too much into this.

Clearinguptheclutter · 11/12/2025 11:34

I would have picked you if possible as a one off.

However, it might be more expensive but if you have to wait around for so long in the dark and cold for a bus I’d be looking at driving instead. Assuming you have a car.

Schoolchoicesucks · 11/12/2025 11:32

You asked, you didn't expect. You do favours for them, including giving them lifts. It would have been nice of them to nip out and collect you. They didn't. They also made clear that they resent you asking. That's unkind of them and would make me rethink how the living together and helping each other out is working for you.

Roobarbtwo · 11/12/2025 11:31

I think part of the issue is the fact that you are doing a two hour commute to work each way by the sounds of it.

I also don't think the parents are terrible for saying no. It's the delivery that was off. And if you are being used like a taxi to drive other people around - then stop it.

As for what you pay your parents rent - that's up to you and them but personally I think there must be more to this - your mum calling you selfish for asking for a lift suggests that there's more going on in the dynamic of your relationship.

TimeForATerf · 11/12/2025 11:26

Terrible parents. DD age 28 asked me if she could stay here on Friday as it is her work's Christmas party and we live nearer to the venue. Absolutely.

"Could you give me a lift to the station mum, a mile away and I'll get the train to the venue"

"Don't be silly, I'll take you to the venue and drop you off, don't get the train"

Me doing a 15 mile round trip in the cold and dark because I care about her and it is no skin off my nose. I may even have my pyjamas on in the car!

ThePoshUns · 11/12/2025 11:22

Ah that is mean OP, my son is your age and I would have given him a lift.

truffleruffle · 11/12/2025 11:22

coldabdtired · 11/12/2025 11:10

I’ve not encouraged that at all.

Ignore nasty comments. You asked for other views but I don’t think you tried to negatively describe your parents.

AngelicKaty · 11/12/2025 11:20

Redburnett · 11/12/2025 10:13

Taxi?

Already asked and answered - read all of OP's posts.

Astra53 · 11/12/2025 11:19

That was not very kind of them. It's hardly a big ask.

newbluesofa · 11/12/2025 11:17

I feel like the fact you asked your parents is irrelevant. Surely it's just about being a nice person. I used to live with friends and we would do stuff like this for each other. It's not about still depending on your parents or whatever, you just live with someone who supposedly cares about you and might wanna help you out. It's a shame they didn't.

MariaDingbat · 11/12/2025 11:11

You're getting lots of mean messages on here OP. I think it was absolutely reasonable to ask for help so you wouldn't be stranded cold and alone, especially to ask people who you yourself have gone out of your way to help in the past. I'm sorry they didn't return the favour and were difficult about it. It might be time to make yourself less available to last minute requests from them.

I have 2 daughters and I would happily pop out and get them if they needed it. I was lucky that my parents always made sure I knew that if I got in in any trouble or needed help they would be there in a heartbeat and I am making sure my daughters know the same. You weren't demanding lifts everyday, you wanted help in a one off, horrible situation. And please ignore any comments about living at home, a lot of the commenters seem to have no idea how difficult it is out there right now or seem to think that all young people should suffer hardship because they did.

BauhausOfEliott · 11/12/2025 11:10

What gets me is that if they really couldn't make the minimal effort to chuck on a coat over their pyjamas and drive a few minutes to give you a lift, they could have just said 'Really sorry but we're in our pyjamas now and don't want to get the car out'. They didn't have to berate you for even asking!!

Honestly, they sound like complete arseholes, especially now I've seen that you give them lifts all the time!

coldabdtired · 11/12/2025 11:10

KaleidoscopeSmile · 11/12/2025 10:21

Oh well done OP. You've encouraged a couple of frothing lunatics to call your mother - who you live with FFS - a selfish fucker. What a delightful child you are

I’ve not encouraged that at all.

OP posts:
Marosanne · 11/12/2025 11:10

I would always rather have fifteen minutes' personal mild inconvenience than have my child spend hours being tired and cold, whatever their age. Also, I frequently drive my daughter to work in my pj's and I'm a single parent aged 69. It's not illegal!

wfhwfh · 11/12/2025 11:09

Comtesse · 11/12/2025 10:51

Bugger me there are some joyless people on this thread. It is ok to ask for help! It doesn’t make weak, a sponger or anything else.

Agreed - some comments on this thread are sad to read if they are really reflective of actual family relationships.

It is ok to ask for help and it is ok to say no. What is not ok is being mean-spirited and childish about it as OP’s mother was. What’s wrong with replying “So sorry, darling - im already in my PJ’s. We’ll have the kettle on for you”.

user1471538283 · 11/12/2025 11:08

I'd do it in a heartbeat for my two unless it was very late and then I'd get them an Uber. Maybe you could stop giving them lifts?

Iamnicehonest · 11/12/2025 11:03

Wow theres some really nasty replies on here. And the judgement of you for living at home is astonishing!

Some people really do live in bubbles. I'm happy for my boys to stay with me as long as they like.

Citrusbergamia · 11/12/2025 11:03

coldabdtired · 10/12/2025 19:14

I think what’s annoyed me most is I give my family lifts a lot. Every week I drive my dad to golf, I was giving my mum lifts a week after I had surgery and I regularly get drunken calls from my brother to pick him up in the middle of the night. But nobody could drive 15 minutes to me

No YANBU for someone to come out and give you a lift as you clearly do the same for them.

How horribly selfish they are.