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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU - Still buying stuff for daughter at University

424 replies

Virgo28 · 10/03/2020 13:21

I'll try to give all details to save questions so please bear with me. DD and her BF both 1st year students at uni one on south coast and one up north so the only time they see each other is when they are home but still text etc each other. Me and DP have been to see daughter twice, once in November and again end of February and both times I have taken up a bag of goodies for her, stuff like biscuits, sweets, basically stuff that I have seen when shopping that I thought she might like as a treat or maybe an essential that she has mentioned she needs. She works hard, is getting good grades and also has a part time job between her studies as her student maintenance loan only just covers her rent. The girls had been talking and DD mentioned the weekend we visited and told BF the stuff we had done (tourist stuff) and the bits I had taken up to her. BF must of told her mum and the next day BF's mum is knocking on my door basically demanding I stop enabling and spoiling my DD because apparently I should be allowing my DD to be an adult and not interfer as it's not helping her learn "life lessons" I also should not be visiting her as this doesn't help her either. Who is being unreasonable here? It honestly didn't cross my mind, it was just a few bits and a day out exploring where she is because we'd never been there before DD started there. It's about 4 hours each way so we drove up Saturday morning, spent the afternoon and early evening together, stayed at hotel that night, took her to breakfast the following morning and then left lunchtime to come home.

OP posts:
londonrach · 10/03/2020 16:37

@Virgo28 you amazing mum! I dont think parents realise how much a small box of home comforts mean. My mums parents never did it for her and my dad didnt go to uni so for them it wasnt something to do. They just paid money into my uni account to help with rent (i worked too). Id have swapped that for a box of random toilet paper, tins of soap choc to show you cared and missed you. Going to do that for dd when she gets to uni (shes three)

londonrach · 10/03/2020 16:39

I was grateful for the money but a box of home bits means more

Rumtopf · 10/03/2020 16:43

Get the BF's address at Uni and send her a goody bag (or Tesco's delivery) of yummy bits she'll love.

Her Mum is bloody bonkers.

lowlandLucky · 10/03/2020 16:43

Just because this bat shit woman is feeling quilty about not visiting her own DD doesnt mean she can bang on your door and tell you how to live your life. Never again would she come near my door

CoraPirbright · 10/03/2020 16:50

The mind boggles as to why she thinks this is anything to do with her?!!

Virgo28 · 10/03/2020 16:51

@londonrach - I'm sure you will be great!

OP posts:
oldspaniel · 10/03/2020 16:53

What a weird reaction from this woman. Our youngest is still in university and we send her money every month, take her clothes and food shopping when we visit about twice a year. Plus spoil her when she visits us. I think your daughter's friend has told her mum how lucky your daughter is and the mum feels embarrassed. Instead of looking inwards she's looked outwards. Continue with the love and nurturing, hope you find the right words to say to her if she approaches you again. The poor friend of your daughter will be cringing when she finds out you got a roasting.

Jaichangecentfoisdenom · 10/03/2020 16:55

What @Rumtopf (are you from the other side of the rosti barrier?) said.

Virgo28 · 10/03/2020 16:55

I'm sure, as people have said she is feeling guilty. Theres about 6 altogether who stay in touch spread out across the country and if BF is hearing the same thing from others she might have said something to her mum? Maybe?

OP posts:
Icecreamdiva · 10/03/2020 16:59

I posted upthread that we do something similar to the OP so it seems reasonable to me.

We had a friend OTOH who I think did go too far with the care packages - she would do a weekly meal plan for her son (three meals a day plus healthy snacks) do a Tesco shop for all the food it required to be delivered to his flat and send him a lengthy email with recipes, portions sizes, timing etc.

My daughter and this lad were mates and when DD visited him one weekend she reported back that the fridge and cupboards of the flat were full of rotting, out of date food and he lived mainly on junk food, cider and weed. Happily his mum also paid him a visit a few weeks later and the deliveries soon stopped.

I am happy to say his student bad habits are far behind him now and he is a productive and happy husband and father so even her excessive attentions didn’t do any lasting harm.

marblesgoing · 10/03/2020 17:04

My eldest dc is nearly 22.
Moved out of home last year but I give him a bag of bits whenever I see him as I collect bits as I go along.

Yes I know he's an adult and all that however he's still my child in my eyes so the little things help.

He's always grateful and makes use of it.

millymoo1202 · 10/03/2020 17:09

My daughter is at Uni, 40 mins from us. If I’m up shopping etc I’ll pop in with some bits and bobs and maybe a plated up tea from night before. I even sometimes clean the bathroom and run round with the hoover!! All appreciated by her and she sometimes says Mum you don’t need to do that but hey I’m her Mum and actually enjoy it a little bit!

Undies1990 · 10/03/2020 17:12

You sound lovely OP, we'll done and keep doing what you're doing - it's perfectly normal and your DD is very lucky to have you.

Ignore the BF's crazy mum as she seems to have sadly checked out of her relationship with her son.

Do you know the BF well? If so, I'd send him a nice parcel of goodies in the post Grin

strawberry2017 · 10/03/2020 17:15

I didn't go to uni but big sister did, we all used to visit, it was common to take her food shopping and treats over, I sometimes went by myself and our parents always sent money over for her to take me to tea or have a takeaway (I was a teenager) I remember once going over with everything for a Sunday dinner and making it for them.
I plan to treat my children the same one day if they choose the university route. I just thought it's something parents did.
Even in his 80's when my DM and I used to visit my grandad, I used to take him loads of homemade cakes that he loved and we used to take him food shopping and he always sent us home with a gammon joint, when sister and I had our own homes we used to get one I'm too. I always just thought it was just a parent thing!

cakewench · 10/03/2020 17:19

yikes. I know there's already a consensus but, YANBU! Definitely this mum is either insecure or just of the school of "they're out of the house, their lives need to now be as difficult as possible." Enjoy the Easter trip!

SallySun123 · 10/03/2020 17:21

My parents never did this for me when I was at university but my housemates did. I was always very jealous.

^This 100%. I will definitely visit my kids and shower them with goodies if they go to uni!

longcoffee · 10/03/2020 17:27

My DH is 50 and his mum still sends him on his way with a 'care parcel'. Admittedly, the contents are getting increasingly random as the years go on, but that's part of the charm of them! (Theres always a pack of dusters and can of pledge, which might say more about my cleaning skills than anything else 😬)

Glittertwins · 10/03/2020 17:29

My mum and dad would always buy the first supermarket run of the term and cook me a load of freezie meals to take back to university. They still did batches of food for me and my brother when we left home and even now I'll get homemade bread and jam/marmalade!!

I used to take food parcels up to DP (now DH) when he was in his final year at university too. It's called being thoughtful and caring about someone!

VioletCharlotte · 10/03/2020 17:31

My DS is at university about half an hour away so I see him every 2/3 weeks. I always buy him a bag of treats or essential bits and pieces, and sometimes make him meals to put in the freezer. As far as I can see, this seems to be pretty standard.

PanicAndRun · 10/03/2020 17:33

She either can't afford or can't be arsed to do the same for her DD. Her DD might've moaned or wished she had the same or whatever, so instead seeing if she can make her daughter's life easier in any way she decided that your DD should not have nice things instead. That says a lot about what type of person she is tbh.

VettiyaIruken · 10/03/2020 17:34

Omg how ridiculous to go to see your child twice in six months and take her some biscuits.
Talk about overdoing it
She's 18 now, you should move without telling her and when she phones you, tell her "Ich spreche kein Englisch" then get a new number.

I mean f.f.s. twice in six months is hardly overdoing it. Some people are fucking stupid.

sarahC40 · 10/03/2020 17:39

We used to get really excited if one of my friend’s mum visited as she used to make amazing baked goods for my whole floor in uni halls - thanks Ian’s mum - fondly remembered. My mum used to do a massive shop and then leave us to it but would come for a visit and take us all out for lunch - anyone who lingered and looked a bit hungry tbh. I’ve also worked for an Oxbridge College where one of the nicest Fellows used to round up lonely, sad or overseas students and park them at his house for a massive Sunday lunch, prepared by both him and his wife. It lifted everyone’s spirits - keep being lovely, op.

LoveFameTragedy · 10/03/2020 17:39

It isn’t even just about her being at uni either is it. It is normal to visit and bring gifts or treats to people you love. MIL still brings DH chocolate every time, and DM would always bring us lovely treats she had come across or baking she’d done. We now do the same for DD (3rd year student).

TheFairyCaravan · 10/03/2020 17:39

When DS2 was at uni he used to send me a shopping list every 10/14 days and I'd send him a Tesco shop. I always put some treats on, something like his favourite yoghurts and some nice biscuits that he could share with his flatmates. When we went down, or he went back, I always took homemade cake, too. I even crocheted one of his friends a blanket for his bed because he loved DS2's so much.

DS1 is in the army. He takes cakes back too, and I think I've done 7 blankets for his friends. 😂

You're absolutely doing the right thing by your dd. I bet the BF wishes you were her mum too.

Redannie118 · 10/03/2020 17:41

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.