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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Should I tell my daughter she's got post?

136 replies

statement · 10/09/2026 13:24

DD(21) is home from college for the summer. She acts like nothing more than a lodger. Will grace us with her presence when it's time to eat only and will spend 24/7 on her phone locked in room otherwise. Never makes time for the rest of the family but will happily go out with friends. She's had a few letters and a parcel which has been on the coffee table for two weeks. For context it's not a messy house, there's nothing else on the table but her letters and parcel. But this is her way, she notices nothing about the household and acts like it's a hotel. If something has fallen on the floor she will step round it. Everything has to be pointed out to her every single time. This has happened before when her driving licence arrived. It was on the table for a few weeks and she asked me if it had come and I said yes there it is. If I hadn't told her it would have been there for the rest of her life. No ND, all regular.

AIBU to leave it, even though they look like important letters?

OP posts:
ruthgordon123 · 11/09/2026 23:20

Why does she dislike you so much?

FaceIt · 11/09/2026 23:54

She sounds bad mannered.

So don’t be a doormat and give her the post, let her use her own initiative.

Hildegard25 · 12/09/2026 11:17

mumumental · 11/09/2026 22:28

On a silver platter, perhaps.

😂😂😂

askmenow · 12/09/2026 12:27

But you’ve allowed her to be like this.
Tell her you expect her to engage and contribute to family life or to bugger off.

I take it she’ll leave the dishes for you to clear up when she’s eaten at her convenient times, (not your mealtimes) If so in future, there’ll be no food left after you’ve eaten and cleared away. Tough love.

Is there a father around or is she just used to walking all over mum.

bananaobama · 12/09/2026 13:24

Put them in her room; on her bed

LastNightMyPJsSavedMyLife · 12/09/2026 13:46

It‘d be interesting to hear the DDs version

Workplacedilemma84 · 12/09/2026 14:23

ChequerToRed · 11/09/2026 20:25

Oh, aren't you weird.
Do you actually allow your family members to treat you like head cook and bottle washer because they might, unbeknownst to you, be saintly paragons outside the house? Or is this just a bizarre flex?

Maybe I cook and wash up for my children as a daily act of love, and I don't need them to kiss the ring to feed my ego.

AliceMcK · 12/09/2026 14:30

statement · 10/09/2026 14:27

Come on, this should win an award for the most ridiculous post out there. She trusts us enough to leave her post in communal areas? Is it normal in your world to pilfer things from your kids?

My mother would open my mail and read it and I’d get given the 3rd degree. At 19yo I had a miscarriage and never told anyone, I ended up seeing a counsellor, my parents found out by my mother opening my mail, they actually turned up at counselling demanding to know what was going on. So yes it’s a good sign that your DD feels it’s ok to have her mail sitting around trusting no one would ever open her private correspondence.

Willowskyblue · 12/09/2026 14:31

Why are you putting up with her rudeness?Stop doing everything for her. Turn off the WiFi. Stop paying for her phone, if you do, and sit her down and tell her the facts about how people live together. Give her a deadline by which she has to pull her socks up or tell her she can move out and not come back.
My two young adult DCs drive me nuts at times but they’re polite, do their own washing, will offer to cook a meal, eat with us if home and will empty the dishwasher/put out the rubbish etc without prompting. They spend a lot of time in their rooms when they’re not at work but regularly express their gratitude for various things.

ApiratesaysYarrr · 12/09/2026 14:49

Put the post on her bed.

When she is in her room, go and talk to her. Say that you were happy to see her come home, but that she needs to engage a bit more in household stuff when she is home. Stuff like helping out by making dinner etc, cleaning communal areas of the house (assuming that your other kids have to do it as well), and spending some time with family - you could just do one evening a week as a family movie/games/ socialising night, which isn't much to ask.

If she thinks that that is unreasonable, then perhaps suggest that next summer that she makes alternative arrangements for where to stay, as you are not her household staff.

Gossipisgood · 14/09/2026 13:05

Just tell her she has post. Why would you not. If that's the way she's always been then you should be used to it. If they are important letters then it's best she opens them than miss something. I really don't understand why you're being so childish & not telling her.

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