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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Ds21 and new “girlfriend”

181 replies

bluebot · 02/10/2025 08:07

Ds21 met a girl a couple of weeks ago and has seen her maybe 3/4 times.
Hes wanting to bring her home to meet me and sit in his room with her. Promises he wont do “anything”I’ve said no AIBU?

Bit of back story. All he does is live in his room when he’s not at work or out with friends. He does nothing in the house to help anyone. He has 2 younger sisters. He never really interacts with any of us, only when it suits him.
Hes had 2 girlfriends in the past year. One he was with for 6 months the other for 3 weeks. I feel he has no respect for the girls he sees. He always ends up falling in love (so he says) really quick then just leaves them and goes back to his mates when he’s bored.

This said girl he sneaked into the house last Saturday night and had sex with her in the bathroom whilst we were all in bed. I heard them!!
He sneaked her back out again the next morning. I was really angry, he’s only known her a week or so at that time.

I know DP (his step dad) won’t be happy about this. He doesn’t know about Saturday. He thinks ds treats the house like an hotel and comes and goes when he wants. Contributes nothing to the house and says if he wants to do what he pleases he should look at moving out. Apart from this they get on ok

So am I wrong for seeing no?

OP posts:
FuzzyWolf · 02/10/2025 10:13

He’s the outcome of how you brought him up combined with having to sneak around because you won’t allow him to be an adult, which at 21 he is.

SilverCamellia · 02/10/2025 10:15

When did the world change and it was the accepted thing that our kids are entitled to have sex in the house without anyone objecting. It is your house OP and your rules.

PixieandMe · 02/10/2025 10:17

'Hes wanting to bring her home to meet me and sit in his room with her. Promises he wont do “anything”I’ve said no AIBU?'

Of course you are. He is 21.

AuntieLemonade · 02/10/2025 10:17

You’ve raised a man who sees women as commodities and entitlements by doing everything for him and expecting nothing in return and now you are shocked that he’s treating women as commodities and entitlements… shocker…

I bet you expect his sisters to contribute to the house, even if it’s just cooking and cleaning.

Who is still raising these men??!!

Glittertwins · 02/10/2025 10:20

You are being unreasonable as he’s 21. But he is also being unreasonable if he’s treating your house as cheap hotel and you have no idea who is in and out in the middle of the night.
He should move out or respect reasonable house rules (not a flat out “no”).

abbynabby23 · 02/10/2025 10:23

bluebot · 02/10/2025 08:07

Ds21 met a girl a couple of weeks ago and has seen her maybe 3/4 times.
Hes wanting to bring her home to meet me and sit in his room with her. Promises he wont do “anything”I’ve said no AIBU?

Bit of back story. All he does is live in his room when he’s not at work or out with friends. He does nothing in the house to help anyone. He has 2 younger sisters. He never really interacts with any of us, only when it suits him.
Hes had 2 girlfriends in the past year. One he was with for 6 months the other for 3 weeks. I feel he has no respect for the girls he sees. He always ends up falling in love (so he says) really quick then just leaves them and goes back to his mates when he’s bored.

This said girl he sneaked into the house last Saturday night and had sex with her in the bathroom whilst we were all in bed. I heard them!!
He sneaked her back out again the next morning. I was really angry, he’s only known her a week or so at that time.

I know DP (his step dad) won’t be happy about this. He doesn’t know about Saturday. He thinks ds treats the house like an hotel and comes and goes when he wants. Contributes nothing to the house and says if he wants to do what he pleases he should look at moving out. Apart from this they get on ok

So am I wrong for seeing no?

In my opinion, this moment is crucial for not pushing him away for the future. I was a very rebellious teenager/young adult and my mum managed to keep me close to her but having open conversation, demand respect and putting boundaries. I believe he should contribute on housework, maybe do rota for all the kids, and as for the girls I think you should allow him to bring them in after dating 3-4 months. In terms of sex, because we all been there, maybe ask him to do what he wants at home when noone else is there?!

MrsDoylesTeaTray · 02/10/2025 10:23

Is this a joke thread? “This is not a sex house” It sounds like something Alan Partridge would say “They’re sex people Lynn” 😂😂

WhichPage · 02/10/2025 10:24

His behaviour in the house is entirely unconnected to having a girlfriend?

You can address his behaviour as a member of the household - he needs to pull his weight - but I fail to see why you would not welcome his friends/girlfriends due to that. Though there needs to be appropriate considerate behaviour from him and any guest, especially regarding sex but also tidying kitchen after using not dominating living room etc.

ManteesRock · 02/10/2025 10:28

bluebot · 02/10/2025 08:07

Ds21 met a girl a couple of weeks ago and has seen her maybe 3/4 times.
Hes wanting to bring her home to meet me and sit in his room with her. Promises he wont do “anything”I’ve said no AIBU?

Bit of back story. All he does is live in his room when he’s not at work or out with friends. He does nothing in the house to help anyone. He has 2 younger sisters. He never really interacts with any of us, only when it suits him.
Hes had 2 girlfriends in the past year. One he was with for 6 months the other for 3 weeks. I feel he has no respect for the girls he sees. He always ends up falling in love (so he says) really quick then just leaves them and goes back to his mates when he’s bored.

This said girl he sneaked into the house last Saturday night and had sex with her in the bathroom whilst we were all in bed. I heard them!!
He sneaked her back out again the next morning. I was really angry, he’s only known her a week or so at that time.

I know DP (his step dad) won’t be happy about this. He doesn’t know about Saturday. He thinks ds treats the house like an hotel and comes and goes when he wants. Contributes nothing to the house and says if he wants to do what he pleases he should look at moving out. Apart from this they get on ok

So am I wrong for seeing no?

So after 6 months he decides they're not right for each other so he ends things? That sounds perfectly normal to me at that age tbh.
Why would you want him to stay with someone he isn't happy with just so he doesn't hurt her feelings?
I did that and ended up married to him, 10 years later we had 3 kids and a divorce under our belts!

JRM17 · 02/10/2025 10:30

I mean it's not really a hard issue to solve is it... He starts paying rent, he starts doing his own laundry or he moves out. As for the girls would you rather he was shagg!ng them in bus stops or against a wall down an alley. If your going to be all NIMBY about him having sex in your house where do u think he's gonna have it. Maybe as you are both supposed to be adults you could sit down and talk and maybe come to an agreement. As for never seeing him when I was 21 I worked a full time 40hr job and a worked 16hrs as a support worker I ate, slept and sexed at home and maybe saw my parents for a total 2 hrs a week in 2min increments as we passed in the hallway.

Pregnancyquestion · 02/10/2025 10:30

Harsh responses, 21 year olds can be selfish and obnoxious, I don’t think that it’s that unusual. You do need to stop treating him like a prince though, stop doing everything for him otherwise you’re doing him a disservice. He can come and go as he pleases but he should be cooking, cleaning, and doing his own laundry.

But I don’t care in he’s an adult, if he wants the freedom to do as he pleases he needs to move out. I wouldn’t have girls in and out of my house.

Starlight1984 · 02/10/2025 10:32

AuntieLemonade · 02/10/2025 10:17

You’ve raised a man who sees women as commodities and entitlements by doing everything for him and expecting nothing in return and now you are shocked that he’s treating women as commodities and entitlements… shocker…

I bet you expect his sisters to contribute to the house, even if it’s just cooking and cleaning.

Who is still raising these men??!!

Huh? How is he "treating women as commodities"? He is a 21 year old having sex with (I'm guessing) similar aged females who are clearly up for it too!

I had plenty of sex at that age - one night stands, flings, relationships... I never once thought I was being treated as a "commodity"! Just fairly normal 20-something behaviour!

With regards to the housework and not pulling his weight, that's a separate issue entirely and probably one of the OPs own making.

LaDamaDeElche · 02/10/2025 10:33

I think you’ve had a bit of a hard time on here OP. Also people don’t need to be criticising your parenting, as they don’t know you. You have a son who you want to be a man who treats women with respect and not objects to dispose of when they get bored. That’s not the sign of a bad parent. I would stop with the comparisons with his dad though as he’s his own person and his actions are his own. It’s not healthy or you to view him in this way and I hope you don’t say it to him.

Regarding the doing stuff around the house part, you know he needs to step up with that, but many people don’t make the transition from the lazy teen stage to young adult stage seamlessly - parents and children alike. I think you have to have a think about how to change the dynamics from having a teen son to a 21 year old. Communication is key here and you need to get him on board with this and not present a load of rules as he’s just going to get defensive. Agree together how to move forward. If he’s not prepared to have this conversation then it’s time for him to get a flat share and live how he chooses.

I think it’s up to you whether you feel he should contribute financially, not every family asks this of young adult children living at home. The doing nothing around the house needs to change. Bringing girls home again is something you need to discuss and have some ground rules about.

I think communication is the way forward and if he’s mature enough to want to have women stay over, then he needs to be mature enough to do this while respecting his family, pulling his weight around the house and not sitting in his room acting like a moody teen and actually be part of the family like the adult he is.

Cyclebabble · 02/10/2025 10:34

Reading your comments it does look like you are projecting. He is not his father. It is quite normal for young men and women to have more casual sex than when they are older. He is only 21. At this age you are fully entitled to set rules about what he does around the house- he should be doing a share of tidying washing etc. As for the sex, I would work on him being discrete and not disrupting the rest of the house.

Tiswa · 02/10/2025 10:35

bluebot · 02/10/2025 08:18

i agree he is behaving like a normal 21 year old. I just don’t want him doing it in my house or meeting these girls when I know in a few weeks a new one will be in the scene. The last 2 girls he had he really hurt them with his “boredom” of them

How do you know he really hurt them?

ThisFluentOtter · 02/10/2025 10:35

Kibble19 · 02/10/2025 08:40

Ah, another mum who created the monster, only to be unhappy with the end result.

You do everything for him, expect nothing of him, let a working adult live for free in your home. What did you expect exactly?

If he’s treating women like shit, I bet it’s because you’ve been his maid and housekeeper his entire life. You’ve shown him that women are there to provide for him.

This!
You wonder why he, by all surface level appearances, has no respect for women, when you, the key woman his entire life, has allowed him to act like a little precious emporer in the home and treat you as a servant?

Spookygoose · 02/10/2025 10:36

Aquickturn81 · 02/10/2025 08:17

Well you do everything for him

but then despise him for it

this situation is the upshot of many many years of poor parenting op 🤷‍♀️

Where did the OP say or even suggest that she despises her son?!

PinkFrogss · 02/10/2025 10:39

bluebot · 02/10/2025 09:29

All you saying I don’t like my son. I do like him, I love him he is my child!
I just don’t like his attitude to do things.
No I don’t want my house to be a place to bring one night stands back!

I have told him I will happily meet this new girl and go out for food together as a family but I want to make sure he isn’t just using this girl before I meet her.

I let his last 2 girlfriends and they are lovely. I know they were upset about the break up because his first one was messaging me telling me how hurt she was by it all. He told me himself the second girl was upset by it all and he felt bad and asked for my advice.

Yes I do blame myself for him not doing anything for himself around the house but he was my first child so I made a mistake with him.

Ive told him he needs to start doing things in the house and helping out if he wants to be treated like an adult.

I don’t mind him having girlfriends come over or stay the night. They have in the past but like I said it’s not a sex house

What should he have done, stay in a relationship where he’s unhappy in case a break up would upset the other person?

What evidence do you have that he is using this woman? Pretty nasty thing to accuse him of if it’s baseless.

blackpooolrock · 02/10/2025 10:41

I wouldn't allow my child to bring back different girls every few weeks. If that's what they want to do find a place to go and do it.

I wouldn't be doing anything for an adult child. If they are an adult they can do what they need to do by themselves.

If i heard my child having sex in the toilet in the middle of the night i would have went and chapped the door. IMO that's not on. In their room might be different but in the toilet that eveyone uses just no.

Namechangetry · 02/10/2025 10:44

I have told him I will happily meet this new girl and go out for food together as a family but I want to make sure he isn’t just using this girl before I meet her

This isn't normal. It's not for you to make sure he isn't using this girl,what are you going to do if you decide he is, ban him from dating? Or to force him to go out for dinner as a family with every girl he wants to date, that's way ott. If I was a 21 year old girl who fancied a lad and his mum behaved like that I'd laugh and him and you, and then run.

Shagging in the family bathroom - not ok. You trying to control his dating life - also not ok.

MuddlerInLaw · 02/10/2025 10:49

<Shakes head>

This is what university is for …

Presumably this young person never moved out and lived semi-independently away from parental approval / disapproval? It does seem uncomfortably weird to have your mother in your face about your sexual relationships at 21.

MeridianB · 02/10/2025 10:50

PearTreeBoat · 02/10/2025 08:18

If he wants to be treated like and adult and be able to have guests round/stop overnight, then he needs to start acting like an adult.

As a minimum he should be financially contributing to the household, proportionate to his income. He certainly should be contributing towards household chores, and he should be treating everyone who lives there with respect which includes at least basic interactions and not having sex in communal areas.

This. He needs a wake up call on his behaviour.

Your DH may not feel able to speak up so perhaps you need to spell it all out to DS leaving him in no doubt of the new rules.

And please stop doing everything for him - not suggesting you actively separate his clothes if you’re doing a wash but step back and let him start stepping up. Do you buy his toiletries? Pay his phone bill? Change his bed?

Blarn · 02/10/2025 10:51

My dc are still young so I haven't had to navigate this. But this seems to be one of the may problems that comes with young adults not being able to move out to their own homes, or homes shared with fellow young people. At 21 I went to work, went to the pub with friends and had sex. I had to look after my own house but the upside of that needing to manage my money and wash my own clothes is that I could do what I wanted without bothering my parents.

Op should have stopped doing everything for her son years ago so he learnt to do it himself but he is also being a normal 21 year old.

Aquickturn81 · 02/10/2025 10:53

Jc2001 · 02/10/2025 09:47

Why do some people just want to put the boot in? Does it make you feel better about yourself?

You're talking crap, btw.

I’m not at all

Ilovegolf · 02/10/2025 10:54

I would tell him that the house isn't a) a Hotel, or b) a knocking shop. He can either start to pull his weight in the house, by completing X, Y, Z chores on a weekly basis, contributing X amount financially, and stop bringing every random shag home, or he can move out. His choice. If he wants to shag in the bathroom, it needs to be his own bathroom.
I moved out much younger than your DS but there is no way in hell my mother would have put up with any of that behaviour (the being bone idle or the shagging!) from me.