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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to want my adult son to keep caring for me?

371 replies

Tessy1965998 · 14/03/2026 17:52

I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year. I live my son who is in his mid-thirties. He moved away for uni and spent some time abroad in his 20s, but aside from that we have always lived together. We cared for my mother, his grandma, together for a few years before she died. Since my cancer diagnosis, my son has been taking excellent care of me. He has a girlfriend and I think that they might decide to live together soon, but where does that leave me. I divorced my son’s dad and our relationship was always pretty toxic, so it’s pretty much just been me and my son.

Am I unreasonable to think that my health comes first and that my son should stay put and care for me until I’m better instead of just moving out with his girlfriend? He hasn’t mentioned moving out and has mentioned getting some external professional care support, but I don’t want that.

OP posts:
Spiffingdarling88 · 14/03/2026 19:06

You are being selfish, saying you cared for him his whole life is not the same, you decided to have a child.

I say this as someone who is chronically ill and have told my children, I expect them to get on and enjoy their lives regardless of what my needs are.

PorkyHooton · 14/03/2026 19:06

If it's time for him to take the next step with his girlfriend it wouldn't be fair to stand in the way of that. What if she gets tired of waiting and it damages or ends the relationship? He could lose his chance of a happy relationship and family

OriginalUsername2 · 14/03/2026 19:06

After caring for my MIL during her cancer I firmly decided I’d never want my adult children to go through that.

TightlyLacedCorset · 14/03/2026 19:07

Awww your son sounds like a real credit to you OP, you've clearly done a great job! Your son seems capable, empathetic, caring of women, and a hard worker. You're also in a difficult situation. A situation of loss and it's heartbreaking and you must feel extremely vulnerable, and your feelings are totally understandable. It's a double whammy, your son also moving on, leaving you with carers who aren't as good, a set of strangers. Perhaps you feel that you have a right to the care your mother received from you both and it seems unfair, cold, possibly even callous. You may feel abandoned and hurt, even indignant. All entirely understandable considering your position.

This is a bit East meets West. I know in my culture it would not be unusual for an engaged couple to wait until you either got better or passed on, or even for the couple to move in and help you together. However, I don't think you should expect it in this case with your son. It's a different time and culture.

Try to rise above your extremely understandable feelings and rejoice in the couple coming together to hopefully start a new family. Don't make this time of your life with your son strained. Accept the outside help. Is there anyone else you can confide in? I feel you could do with some therapy, someone to discuss your very difficult situation with 💐❤️

NovemberMorn · 14/03/2026 19:07

LittleBinChicken · 14/03/2026 17:54

I feel for you but yes, you’re unreasonable. He deserves to live his life.

Exactly this. I can understand you wanting him to stay with you, but expecting him to is wrong.
It must be scary to be in your shoes and I do sympathise, but your son has his own life to lead, and whether he is living with you or not, he still loves you.

shellyleppard · 14/03/2026 19:07

Sorry op appreciate you are ill but you will be holding your son back expecting him to look after you....its time to let him fly the nest

JustAnotherWhinger · 14/03/2026 19:08

Tessy1965998 · 14/03/2026 18:20

Thank you all for your comments, it’s good to get some perspective. I have no idea what my prognosis is, I don’t really want to know. It’s bowel cancer. I have a few good friends, but we don’t have any real family support. I’m happy for her to move in, but I don’t think that either of them want that.

I just want him to stay put whilst I go through chemo. It was supposed to take a few months, but there have been lots of delays so it’s likely to take much longer. I do want him to move out and have his own life, but I don’t think it should be this year. I have taken care of him his whole life and could really use the support now. He has been an absolute rock for me over some very difficult times, the death of my parents, divorce and now this. He keeps my spirits up and provides a lot of emotional support and I just don’t know how I would cope living alone.

You supported him his whole life because you’re his parent. That’s what we’re supposed to do for our children. We look after them when they’re young then support them after.

You are expecting partner levels of care and companionship from your son and that’s very unfair.

You cannot expect him to put his life on hold indefinitely (especially when you don’t wish to know your prognosis) - what if he and his GF want to marry? Or have children? He’s entitled to have his own life in his own home with his partner.

I do hope you’d never express any negativity toward him living his own life, that would be incredibly unfair.

VisitingInkMonitor · 14/03/2026 19:09

I’m struggling to believe this is true but assuming it is YANVVU. No child should be a parents rock though a divorce, death of grandparents etc. Your job was/is to Launch him on the runway of his adult life. You need to source outside help - your hospital will be able to help (Maggie’s or MacMillan will have people you can talk to).

JustAnotherWhinger · 14/03/2026 19:10

has mentioned getting some external professional care support, but I don’t want that

What about what he wants?

AlwaysADogByMySide · 14/03/2026 19:10

I’m sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

However, you are being very, very unreasonable. Your poor son has spent a lot of his life supporting and caring for you and others. You need to let him live his life. He really deserves that.

Mumtobabyhavoc · 14/03/2026 19:11

I think you might be a bit enmeshed with your son which isn't healthy for either or you, but particularly your son. Please get some outside care and let your son step back a bit.

kiwiane · 14/03/2026 19:11

I’m sorry you’re so ill but you’re being rather selfish. It’s best to sort out carers; your son can visit to keep you company rather than be your primary carer.

godmum56 · 14/03/2026 19:11

Tessy1965998 · 14/03/2026 18:21

Just to add, he works full time and manages it all so well

Kindly OP I think you may believe (or want to believe) he is managing it so well when he is not. Again i mean this as a warning and not a kicking but if you don't review your attitude, you risk his vanishing from your life altogether.

nomas · 14/03/2026 19:11

You are not unreasonable to want to be cared for by a family member.

When my father was end stage with cancer, the doctors wanted to move him to a hospice, but my father wanted to be home and he died in his favourite room of the house. I know that if my mum was in the same situation, she would also want to be at home and us siblings would take it into turns to live with her.

But we have the advantage of being a few siblings who all live near my mum so we can make that call.

I think the most you can hope for is that your DS will want to stay with you but if he wants to move out, I think you have to let him go.

I am so sorry you’re going through this. Flowers

Comedycook · 14/03/2026 19:11

I have taken care of him his whole life

Of course, that's what's you're meant to do and what you sign up for when you decide to have a child. It doesn't work the other way round though.

Onmytod24 · 14/03/2026 19:12

Call up McMillan talk to somebody and talk through your feelings about the future. It sounds like you’re freaking out and you want everything to stay the same, but time doesn’t work like that. Things change it sounds like you’re not actually unwell at the moment so start investigating support at home. Are you eligible for PIP? Find out these things now. And tell your son that he’s being the best son in the world, but it’s time for him to begin to live his own life.

beAsensible1 · 14/03/2026 19:13

no its not right and you know it deep down. he is 30 let himventure out and build a life for himself. you are obviously close so its not like he won't continue to support and assist you. but do not air any expectation that he doesn't continue to live his life.

sittingonabeach · 14/03/2026 19:13

I am sorry about your diagnosis

I am carer for my elderly DM (but live separately). I am emotionally drained but she doesn’t see this. Gradually bringing in external support

Your son needs to have his life

Gymnopedie · 14/03/2026 19:14

Sadly - perhaps understandably, perhaps not - there's something about cancer that makes even otherwise reasonable people selfish. It happened to a neighbour and it's still happening to a friend's DH. He really doesn't care about anything but himself and what he wants to do. His oncologist actually said as much to my friend when they were at one of his appointments.

Cancer has made my OH selfish - Macmillan Online Community

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 14/03/2026 19:15

I do think you’re unreasonable refusing external carers - caring for someone is incredibly hard work, and it sounds like your son hasn’t chosen this.

It’s lovely he’s done a good job so far but it must have taken a toll.

Whether he moves out or not, you must allow him to access help. And I’m
sure he’d keep popping by if he moves out.

Livpool · 14/03/2026 19:15

YABU OP - when does your son get to live his life. You’re his parent so of course you took care of him. I don’t think you should expect so much of him.

thewonderfulmrswatson · 14/03/2026 19:18

Tessy1965998 · 14/03/2026 18:20

Thank you all for your comments, it’s good to get some perspective. I have no idea what my prognosis is, I don’t really want to know. It’s bowel cancer. I have a few good friends, but we don’t have any real family support. I’m happy for her to move in, but I don’t think that either of them want that.

I just want him to stay put whilst I go through chemo. It was supposed to take a few months, but there have been lots of delays so it’s likely to take much longer. I do want him to move out and have his own life, but I don’t think it should be this year. I have taken care of him his whole life and could really use the support now. He has been an absolute rock for me over some very difficult times, the death of my parents, divorce and now this. He keeps my spirits up and provides a lot of emotional support and I just don’t know how I would cope living alone.

He's your child, you're meant to take care of him his whole life? You don't get to dictate to him what he does or when he can move out because you did the bare minimum of what a parents role is.
He is your child, not your husband and you're expecting and leaning on him far too much.
He seems like a wonderful, loving, caring son but if it was any of mine (I have all sons 22, 19, 18) i'd not expect any of them too look after me. I'd want them living their lives. YABVVU and incredibly selfish all
because you don't think you'd cope alone.

nopalite · 14/03/2026 19:18

It sounds like your son has done a huge amount for you @Tessy1965998 and you’ve relied on him a lot.

He’s now in his mid thirties and he has the right to live his life, have a relationship and maybe get married and have children if that’s what he wants. He should not feel he has to live with his mother for ever more.

It’s time to tell him he should go and live his life and to look for other ways to get the support you need. Tell him and don’t wait for him to bring it up. It’s the kind and caring thing to do.

LakotaWolf · 14/03/2026 19:19

@Tessy1965998 -

I am a version of your son.

I was forced into helping care for a grandparent as a child (from age 10/11) - grandmother had ALS and we had her move in with us and live in our home with us. I was changing her diapers as a child. I helped change her soiled clothing and bedding and do the laundry. She died when I was 13 and it was horrific.

Then one of my parents had an awful accident when I was 18, and my other parent decided to take care of them at home with no outside help/caregivers/etc. My older sister and I were forced - both literally forced and also felt socially obligated - to remain living at home to help care for our father. He had catastrophic brain damage and needed constant 24/7 care.

I never finished university. I never got a degree. I never had a career/job other than either low-pay retail or the family business, as I could not spend much time working when I was a full-time caregiver for my disabled parent. I never got married. I never had children.

My father lived for 21 years after his accident, catastrophically disabled and utterly dependent. He was in diapers, had a feeding tube, soiled his bed no matter how well we fixed his diapers, etc. Someone had to sit at his bedside all night as he would occasionally roll around and either fall out of bed or get "stuck" against the bed railings. He needed to have his mouth/throat suctioned hourly or else he'd choke on mucus buildup. It was probably more care than you need/will end up needing, but I was also forced into being an emotional support for my mother, who was constantly playing the "woe is me, my husband had an accident" martyr for two straight decades.

My father died 21 years after his accident, when I was 38 years old. I am 44 years old now. My sister is 50. We both still live at home, as my mother is in her 80s now. It's too late for me to finish my education and get a job/career in the fields I dreamed I'd work in. I am so incredibly resentful of my mother forcing me, with emotional blackmail exactly like you're doing to your son, to stay living with her to take care of my father for two decades of my life. I absolutely wasted my entire young adulthood and I got cheated out of every single one of my dreams and all of my happiness. I never have even gone on a vacation to a place that is more than an hour away from where I live/more than a weekend trip. Did YOU get to go on vacations when you were younger? My mother did.

I loathe the fact that my mother refused to get outside help/other carers to help with my dad's care, or place him in a facility when things got bad, and otherwise emotionally blackmailed my sister and I into being caregivers. Neither one of us had lives of our own. My sister has never been in a relationship, and my single own relationship never progressed past the dating phase - how could it, when I was essentially married to being a caregiver for my parent?

If your post is true, you are incredibly selfish. Did you have a child just to ensure you'd have a servant to wipe your bum in your elderly or sick times? Did you even consider your son's emotional state, how he must be feeling knowing that his parent is ill and potentially dying? Or are you so wrapped up in your own self-pity that you don't even realize he's an entire human being, a separate person of his own, whose hopes, dreams, and life all have value outside of the scope of YOUR life and what YOU want?

I will never forgive my mother for destroying the lives of her two children with the choices she made in regards to my father's care. She still sits and whines and cries about how much time and life she "lost" when my dad had his accident and has absolutely no care that she wasted the entire young adulthoods of her two children.

I can empathize and sympathize with how you must feel, and how afraid you are for your own life and health. But, as kindly as I can put it, you've had a life already. You've gotten to live. You've had a chance.

You are currently actively destroying your son's chance to have a normal life as well.

Try to also imagine how terrible he must be feeling as well, to know his beloved mother is sick and suffering.

Tootiredcantsleep · 14/03/2026 19:20

Some people can live for quite a long time with s4 bowel cancer. I mean, obviously there is a going to be a whole range, but it might give you comfort seeing your son happily settled with his girlfriend. You might live to see them marry, potentially even children if they want that, but only if you give him the freedom to live his life. If you aren't so fortunate and your cancer progresses quicker then you might get comfort in seeing the direction things are going at least. Realistically, someone who has given up so many years for care already, and is clearly so close to you, is likely to be around if things get really bad. I don't think you will have to fact this alone, but that didn't mean he has to put his life in permanent pause again.