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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:
thefemalelemur · 10/03/2020 14:19

Tell her to mind her own bloody business!

Daisy12Maisie · 10/03/2020 14:20

It's up to you what you do. Nothing to do with her friends Mum. So rude of her to say anything to you.
I never got any help with anything at uni apart from lifts there and back but I will be helping my boys when they go because I want to and it's up to me!

JemSynergy · 10/03/2020 14:20

Id tell her to mind her own business, I do what I want with MY money and I would always help my kids where I could.

enjoyingSun · 10/03/2020 14:21

Where does she get off thinking she tells you what to do?! You will parent your daughter, and have a relationship with your daughter as you see fit

^^ This.

Honestly it was faily normal when I was at University where there were still some grant money around. I got bit of shopping and occasional vsist and DH got quite a few visits and given money to do shopping with.

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 14:22

BF’s mum is being really weird. It’s totally normal for you to visit and to bring treats. BF has probably moaned to her mum that she doesn’t get the same from her. Don’t let it bother you, some people are bizarre!

SudokuQueen · 10/03/2020 14:23

She's nuts. She thinks you're making her look bad, that's all.

My parents would bring me food and stuff when at uni.

PelicanPie · 10/03/2020 14:23

You are normal. The bf Mum really isn’t.

missinginactiongeorge · 10/03/2020 14:23

She sounds unhinged! i would have loved to have seen my parents at uni, even more so if they'd been bringing treats. They only had the money to make it to graduation tho not any time before, and I felt quite isolated at times so far from home.
Keep doing what you're doing. Most of my uni friends had regular visits, and almost all of them were getting money and financial support from them too. I was the only one supporting myself.
I don't think a bag of treats is going to destroy your daughter's shot at independence!

DuLANGDuLANGDuLANG · 10/03/2020 14:24

My great aunt used to post me (unsolicited) cling film, tinfoil and kitchen towel!

That was a bit mad, but it was no one’s business but hers.

BF mum is out of order.

enjoyingSun · 10/03/2020 14:24

I have a DSIS who was constantly fabricating excuses to visit the university town where her DD was studying. Her DD was living in a flat and started inviting friends to stay so she could tell DSIS that she couldn't

I worried about my parents doing this - they had form with jobs of turning up but went sufficient distance that this didn't happenas to far for a drive out but near enough to get to back and forth if I needed.

AryaStarkWolf · 10/03/2020 14:25

@TheMagiciansMewTwo Fair enough

amusedbush · 10/03/2020 14:25

@DuLANGDuLANGDuLANG

"Unsolicited clingfilm" might be my next username Grin

motortroll · 10/03/2020 14:26

My mum still buys me toiletries for Xmas like she used to do in our stockings. I'm 42 🤷🏻‍♀️also my dad still lends me money. They're the best!

DuLANGDuLANGDuLANG · 10/03/2020 14:27
Grin

Enjoy,!

Stefoscope · 10/03/2020 14:27

Seems normal to me. My Mum always brings me bits and bobs; baking, biscuits, plants when she visits and I'm in my 30s. If we go out for a meal she insists on paying the bill. I think it's weird to not want to treat your child if you're in the position to do so. Maybe if you were paying out for regular holidays, new cars that would be spoiling her. My Dad was (by his own definition) a tight Yorkshireman, but in my student days, would take me to the supermarket at the start of each term to buy me some essentials.

MyGreySofa · 10/03/2020 14:28

Eh? BFs mum sounds batshit! My parents used to send me a monthly care package with a few treats in. I worked during uni as well as studying to help pay towards rent etc so money was very tight. I loved getting my package at the end of every month. It used to have things in like hand cream, a face mask, chocolate etc. Nothing expensive but at the time it was treats I couldn’t afford so I appreciated.

BF’s mum is being unreasonable and frankly it is none of her business at all what you do with your DD!

ChocolateChipMuffin2016 · 10/03/2020 14:28

I'm 35 and have 2 young kids and my mum will still sometimes pop round with lunch for everyone or little bits she's picked up while shopping (normally for the children these days Sad). I love her for it! I think your DD BF is jealous and asked her mum to do it for her, which is why mum is pissed off!
Just keep doing what you please, it's lovely!

Grumpbum123 · 10/03/2020 14:28

My mum did this and always arrived with a box of bits from my Nanny, my Nanny had always baked cakes for our whole house, send tins of beans, bottle of sherry and about 2-3 imperial leather shower gels. The whole house looked forward to these boxes ❤️

Herpesfreesince03 · 10/03/2020 14:31

The next time you visit I’d take up a package for your dd AND her dd!

JudyCoolibar · 10/03/2020 14:33

I'd be tempted to send a box of goodies to BF with a passive-aggressive note referring to the fact that you know her parents don't do this for her.

Teebag · 10/03/2020 14:34

My daughter is at Uni and I buy her stuff all the time. Her maintenance loan only just covers her rent. I still buy her stuff and give her a weekly allowance. Sometimes I let her do an online food shop to stock up. She has matured lots in relation to money and living by herself, I don't necessarily see it as enabling

Omashu · 10/03/2020 14:34

I wonder if she can’t afford to do the same and she’s feeling guilty?! I dunno. Sounds absolutely bonkers!!!

nettie434 · 10/03/2020 14:37

It’s a lovely thing to do and not at all over involved or enabling. I feel sorry for the best friend if she never gets little treats like that from her mum.

DontBe · 10/03/2020 14:38

I’m 40 and my mum still turns up with stuff. She bought me some Cadbury’s creme eggs last Easter.

OP, tell your friend to piss off and worry about parenting her own child.

FlamingoAndJohn · 10/03/2020 14:38

The other mum sound like my mum. She wouldn't ever bring me things at uni or anything like that.

The best one was when I needed a grill making to go over the window in my cellar, the grill that you get in the pavement. I asked my dad to make it as he was a metal worker and had all the kit at home to make it. She had a go at him saying that I should be sorting it out myself and I should be standing on my own two feet. He was recently retired and was happy to have a project.