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Son wants to come home

279 replies

dustarr73 · 14/04/2019 14:52

Went homeless with his gf and baby son.She is going home to her mothers,he wants to come back here.But the problem is i just dont have the room for him.

My 3 younger sons share,my eldest has his own room,and me and dp have a room.
He wants our room,but the only way he can come back here is of he goes in with the 3 younger boys.And now hes trying to guilttrip me.Im so torn.

OP posts:
CalleighDoodle · 14/04/2019 23:52

it sounds like he has pretty low expectations of himself. has he ever worked?

id say a firm no to him moving back. you do not have the room and it is unfair on your children. he is an adult making poor choices. he can look after himself.

dustarr73 · 15/04/2019 07:29

Yes hes worked before,she worked as well.But the distance from where they where living she couldnt go back after ml.They wouldnt transfer her or give her full days.

OP posts:
dustarr73 · 15/04/2019 07:31

@Moorfields I wouldnt ne afraid of him.

@VetinarisTerrier thank you

OP posts:
balloonyellow · 15/04/2019 07:35

I was made homeless due to losing my job at 18 and neither of my parents would ‘put me up’ their words. In their world as soon as you hit 18 that’s it you’re out the door! Your DS is older and has his own responsibilities though so you’re probably not being as harsh as my own parents! I don’t think YABU. Why can’t he stay with his GF/exGF if it’s his child

GinUnicorn · 15/04/2019 07:41

OP do you have a garden - is there any chance of a summer house or something there he could stay in? I’d also make sure he paid rent (even a small amount ) to encourage responsibility. Ideally you could then help him with a rental deposit once he has got himself together a bit more.

Good luck - it sounds incredibly stressful trying to keep everyone happy. Flowers

NaturatintGoldenChestnut · 15/04/2019 07:48

will tell him its the kids room or nothing.

And you wonder how he turned out the way he is? He is not on the streets, he's in the homeless hub, but why stay there and pay digs when he can be overbearing for free at Mam and Da's and make everyone's life Hell because it will be tolerated.

The pair of them have a child, are well into adulthood, and not bothered about providing for that child themselves at all.

user1457017537 · 15/04/2019 08:14

The summerhouse idea is good but to be able to live in one with a baby it would have to have heating and a bathroom. It’s a good option but could be expensive.

user1457017537 · 15/04/2019 08:16

Is it difficult to rent in Ireland then? I don’t see why this young couple cannot rent a property via housing benefit. Also a few years ago whole housing developments were being abandoned by developers. What has happened to these properties.

dustarr73 · 15/04/2019 09:22

Its very difficult here,even housesharing is a joke.The law was changed about getting help for rent.LL where not supposed to discriminate but they still do,

OP posts:
CalleighDoodle · 15/04/2019 09:26

youve said why she didnt go back to work, but why did he stop working?

anangalou · 15/04/2019 09:26

Your son needs a kick up the backside. He needs a job first and foremost. He needs to learn he can't get his own way and do nothing in return.

SherlockSays · 15/04/2019 09:29

"he has a strong personality.He says it like it is.No thats not down to me,thats just the way he is."

Well, yes, it kind of is.
When people 'say it like it is' it usually means they're rude and generally not nice people. Sounds like he also uses this to manipulate and scare his family.

I'm also not sure why you would have so many children just based on the fact that the older 2 would have moved out by now.. a lot of people live with parents until mid twenties.

Tell him that he has to dig himself out of this one and I'd also be asking the other elder son about his plans to be moving on so you at least have an end in sight. Three kids in one room must be hell for them.

PotterHead1985 · 15/04/2019 10:10

In fairness to the OP and her 'big' family. That's always been the way over here. It's never been seen as 'off' to have a big family, nor to have a big family under one roof in a couple of bedrooms. 2 bedrooms, 1 box room and a bunch of kids sharing has always been the norm.

I do understand where posters are coming from and it certainly is changing more, but the culture in Ireland is just different in some ways and has always been skewed towards big families. Heck I was bullied and made to feel less than worthy cos I was an only child growing up. The reason I am OBSESSED with Christmas is the one that sticks most in my mind. I was always told Christmas would be shit for me and I couldn't have a proper Christmas as there was only me and the mammy and 'you need a proper family to do christmas'.

Anyway apologies for dragging off topic slightly. As you were Grin

TheweewitchRoz · 15/04/2019 10:34

Very good point @PotterHead1985 - it is culturally different in Ireland).

DaphneduM · 15/04/2019 10:52

I totally sympathise with your dilemma here. But as others have said, you need to help him to realise that he needs to prioritise getting a job. Everything then will slot into place. Perhaps you would not actually be helping him to move forward if you allow him back, just enabling him to still not work.

Newmumma83 · 15/04/2019 10:55

Took 3 years for my cousin to get a house, based on her , her husband and 2 kids sleeping in a front room... if he comes back has to be on your terms, he is very rude to assume his needs are greater than yours

Charles11 · 15/04/2019 10:59

Getting a job has to be his priority surely? What future is he imagining for himself and his family?
Living off his mum for the rest of his life? It’s shameful.
He should be working or/and getting some qualifications to enable him to live a good, independent life.

flumpybear · 15/04/2019 11:11

I'd give him a month to get a job and move
Somewhere more akin to the family situation he's got himself into

He needs to grow up and start being the provider now the bum

GlossyTaco · 15/04/2019 11:23

I'd say no op.

My child has just moved back home due to losing their job , which came with accommodation. It's been really hard as they are penniless and licking their wounds and have also developed some very selfish and noisy habits in their absence.

However , the reason we allowed them back was because they still have a room here , we knew that their flat was only available as long as they were employed by this company , and they are under 20. They have also applied before jobs non stop since arriving home. Therefore this works for us. It sounds like having your son home wouldn't work for you at all.

contrary13 · 15/04/2019 11:35

Irrespective of how old the OP's son is... he's still her child. She's still going to worry about him and feel that instinct to protect him, or provide for him if she thinks it'll help him, because she's his parent.

Having said that, however...

OP, your son has been an adult for the last 6 years now. More to the point, he has a child of his own now. A child whom he needs to be not only providing for, but also setting a good example for them to model themselves upon when they grow up. If you allow him to "come home" (...really?! His home, surely, should be with his girlfriend and their child, not bunking down in separate homes to one another if they're still together, that is) then you aren't helping him. You're allowing him to continue to behave like a child - and you're showing your three younger sons that they can behave just like their big brother, because you'll always fund such behaviour. Is that what you want for your younger sons? A lifestyle like your older son's is?

Presumably, because you mention that he pays rent to you and his father, your oldest son is working. He's setting a good example to your younger children by showing them that he has a job, that irrespective of the fact he still lives at home (as another poster said, a lot of 20-somethings without the responsibilities of being parents themselves still live with their parents... and a lot don't), he accepts that he's an adult, and behaves accordingly.

If I were you, OP, I'd not allow your second-oldest to return "home", as you put it. He needs to stand on his own two feet and figure out how he's going to provide a roof over his head... and for his own child at the same time. As soon as that baby was born? Your son became a father. And with that... as I know you're aware... comes certain expectations of behaviour. He's reverting to wanting to be a child again, I'm afraid - and that's not an option for him now, is it?

I'd also want to know if he and the girlfriend are still together - and why he wasn't able to stay with her and their child, if they are still together. Something doesn't sit too well about this separation. Especially as you say that he has "an overbearing personality" (and yes; as others have pointed out, that smacks of being allowed to get away with being rude whilst he was growing up, so that now it's second nature to him to be "overbearing"). Your oldest doesn't want to share a room which he pays rent for... and he doesn't have to. He shouldn't have to, or be expected to, just to suit a man-child who refuses to grow up and accept responsibilities which he helped to create.

Also, 5 children's nothing out of the norm, I'm afraid. My father is the oldest of 8, and one of my friends has 10 children. My grandparents provided for their children themselves (my grandmother was a single mother for a while back in the days when it was socially stigmatised, too, whilst my grandfather went off and had more children with other women...), and my friend and her husband have never received any benefit other than Child Benefit for their brood. My grandmother always said that the only thing which made my grandfather stop behaving like "a permanent schoolboy" was joining the Merchant Navy. So your son's attitude to life isn't anything new, I'm afraid. But he has to grow up and provide for a family which he, not you, created.

Good luck.

NaturatintGoldenChestnut · 15/04/2019 12:19

It's probably his 'strong personality' that's the reason why the GF's mum doesn't want him there. Would you want your daughter's bolshy, unemployed 23-year-old boyfriend at yours 24/7? I sure wouldn't! Can't imagine his personality being a plus in the jobs market, either. It's probably long past time for him to grow up and learn that his personality is a barrier and the way for him to learn that that is the hard way.

He's not on the streets, he's in a homeless hub. So he stays in there.

dustarr73 · 15/04/2019 12:32

The hub he is in,is for families only.So he would have to move anyway.

And his overbearing personality is His personality.Same way yours is yours.

I think its easy for other people to say i wouldnt allow this or that.Completely different when its your own flesh and blood.

They are still together,they cant move in to her mothers house for the same reason.Not enough room.

OP posts:
NaturatintGoldenChestnut · 15/04/2019 13:20

Then by all means let him back in, to the detriment of everyone in the family, so he can dominate because, aw, that's just the way he is, and continue to enable a grown man with a child who is an unemployed layabout not putting food in his child's mouth with his sparkling personality.

I have a son with such a personality, he has ASD. I'm trying my best to work with him because he needs to realise this type of personality is usually highly unpleasant and that he needs to learn other tools because we all have to get out and earn our crust in life.

It's not doing him any favours to mollycoddle him.

I'd be pure ashamed of myself if one of mine turned out to be someone who just expected us and the state to see to their every need and their child's.

Acis · 15/04/2019 13:22

The hub he is in,is for families only.So he would have to move anyway.

Why couldn't he stay in it with his family?

SleepingStandingUp · 15/04/2019 13:30

So they were with you for 8.months.

Where did they go after that?

Why aren't they there now?

How old is the baby? Could you and other amum help with childcare so thry can both work?