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Sons girlfriend staying over

22 replies

Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 00:34

I'm not sure if I am being unreasonable by asking my 19 year old to take his girlfriend home by 10.30 during the week as i have to get up for work. I can hear everything! my room is directly below his so I have to wait up until she is gone before going to bed.
At weekends I get woken up at 2am by the noises, that I know are natural, but I don't want to hear it.
I had to interrupt them last weekend at 2am and ask him to take her home. I know it was wrong but I wanted to sleep. He won't talk to me now and I feel rotten.
It's not his fault our house is not sound proof so I feel bad for him.
Any solutions would be gratefully received. 🙏

OP posts:
OatFox · 29/12/2022 00:38

Can he not stay at hers some nights to give you a break? I've assumed you've spoken to him about keeping the noise down before telling her to go home?

Afterfire · 29/12/2022 00:39

I don’t think you’re unreasonable. I have a 19 year old dd and she knows she can’t have boyfriends over to stay. I think it’s one of the reasons she loves being at university 😳😆 Other people will no doubt come and say you’re being awful, these threads always go this way, but at the end of the day it’s your house, he can move out if he doesn’t like it.

Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 00:56

Oatfox, I wished he did stay at hers sometimes, it would take pressure off me feeling like a kill joy. My older son does exactly that, but when his girlfriend is here I never hear anything and they are really good to have around.
I'm stuck as well as I have to have the same rules for both of them but my older son is very respectful and no problem.
Don't get me wrong, I love having them all in the house and chatting to them but my ds19 never comes out, I don't get a chance to chat about it all.

OP posts:
Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 01:00

After fire, thank you for saying that it's getting me down, I thought I would be a all accepting mum but I'm finding this a bit hard to deal with. Your post is very helpful.

OP posts:
talkingmorenonsense · 29/12/2022 01:04

You are not being unreasonable. It’s your home, you need your sleep and you have to get up for work. Put your foot down and please don’t feel guilty. It’s not that you are not an accepting mum, you just need your sleep.

Dotcheck · 29/12/2022 01:05

Did he have to take her home? Couldn’t they just have stopped having loud sex?

They probably thought it was safe at 2 am

Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 01:18

@Dotcheck you are right I should have done that, I'm not good at this. I did apologize to him when he got back. I think your right about feeling safe at 2am, I see your point. This is a learning curve for me thanks for the comments it's really helpful. 👌

OP posts:
emptythelitterbox · 29/12/2022 12:48

Ban the week day sleepovers. It's your home.

Is he working and paying board?

GetOffTheRoof · 29/12/2022 12:49

Can you swap bedrooms maybe? So you're not hearing sounds from above? Or move him to another room if you can?

Onnabugeisha · 29/12/2022 12:51

I think I would have simply put in ear plugs and gone back to sleep. I think you’re being a bit precious tbh.

Haus1234 · 29/12/2022 12:54

If you let his bro have his gf to stay then I don’t think it is fair to not let your younger son, given they’re both adults and assuming similar level of relationship seriousness. You need some earplugs, or to move the bedrooms around.

gogohmm · 29/12/2022 12:56

Why can't she just stay over on the condition that they are more careful about noise? I have both DD's and dsd's boyfriend's currently staying. They know we have work and are respectful of noise (plus they would be horrified if we heard that!)

Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 23:27

@emptythelitterbox I have said no weekday stay overs now, that's helped alot. He does work but not taking any money from him yet but will do soon. Thanks for your advice.

OP posts:
AnnieFarmer · 29/12/2022 23:29

My 18 year olds long term gf stays over at weekends/some weekdays. When she first started staying over, I did hear them a couple of times. I told him and he was mortified! I’ve never heard them since.

Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 23:31

@Onnabugeisha your right that's how I was feeling about it, I think that's what is getting me down about it as I feel I am being a bit up tight. I got earplugs today so I'm well prepared. I think my outburst has made them be respectful with noise volume so we will see.

OP posts:
Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 23:37

@AnnieFarmer I am glad it's worked out for you without having to have a mad rant. She is here every single day but now does not stay over during the week. It's Friday tomorrow so we will see how it goes as I am sure she will stay over. I wished I could talk to him as we used to do but he doesn't come out of his room anymore. I've ruined it I think.

OP posts:
Alwaysintheway · 29/12/2022 23:48

@talkingmorenonsense thank you I feel terrible for not being more free love and open minded so your words are very kind. I know it might sound stupid but I fell that if I let them just be how they want then it will encourage them to have no respect at all. I know they smoke weed up there as well, I have no spoons or cups left they are all in his room. So I think I need to be brave and face up to all the little issues but then I feel like all I'm doing is moaning at him. 🙄

OP posts:
Aarohi · 30/12/2022 00:04

I wished I could talk to him as we used to do but he doesn't come out of his room anymore. I've ruined it I think.

I think you're being much too hard on yourself. You keep saying you don't think you are open minded, pro-free love, etc., but I'm not getting that impression at all from what you're written here about the specific things that have happened.

You work, you pay for the house you and your sons live in (even if they are now contributing) and you need peace and quiet overnight. You're already being accommodating by trying earplugs and allowing more noise on weekends when you don't have to work the next day. But people who live together coming together to set reasonable compromise boundaries that work for everyone is NORMAL. Look how many hotels (just for example) enforce quiet hours from mid-evening to early morning. People need quiet to sleep. People with ongoing obligations, such as your job, need quiet and sleep at predictable and specific times.

I would let your son's girlfriend stay (if that's what they want and it's not causing other problems), but they like everyone else in the house MUST observe the quiet hours. As your other son is able to do this, it's possible. (And believe me - if your younger son were in a share house with housemates his own age, they would not be putting up with noise all night every night either! They might also not like essentially having an additional non-paying roommate, if she's staying more nights than she's going home.)

Your younger son is being quite immature if he's intentionally avoiding discussing this with you; it's possible there could be compromises such as his using a different room, but not if he's not interested in exploring them. Don't be bulldozed into doing more than you can do. You matter too, and have every right to have your needs listened to, respected, and accommodated (within reason).

emptythelitterbox · 30/12/2022 01:03

Good you're going to have him start paying something.
He wants to be treated like an adult, he can take on the adult responsibilities.

Paying his way, doing his fare share of household chores.
I hope you're not cooking and cleaning up after these adults.

strawberrysummer23 · 06/01/2023 08:37

My mum always let my boyfriend stay over at that age and so did his mum, alternative days and hardly had evenings apart
Would have hated her if she said he had to go at 1030 or vice versa !
But then we didn't have noisy sex so that's the issue I think

Glamrockgoddess · 17/07/2023 20:18

emptythelitterbox · 29/12/2022 12:48

Ban the week day sleepovers. It's your home.

Is he working and paying board?

Good question.
If not then it's about time it started.

Burntouted · 16/10/2023 17:44

That is your house not his.
Put your foot down.

At this rate, he'll never move...he won't want to do much...Too many liberties given to him.

You'll have a 45 year old living at home, if you don't stop coddling him.

Tell him the maximum she is allowed over is 1 to 2 hours, any day then she must leave.

Tell him that they have to stay downstairs when she visits.

Tell him only on weekends (sometimes) can she visit.

Tell him that if he doesn't follow the rules, she won't be allowed over at all.

When he gets a place of his own, he is free to do as he pleases.

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