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Parents of adult children

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Adult Dd hates me and right now I don’t like her very much either. Very long, sorry.

220 replies

DDstress · 25/08/2023 17:18

She’s 22yo, just finished uni. Lives at home, lived at home all through uni. Still married to her dad. No other kids.

I really don’t know where it went wrong. We seemed to get on fine, days out, doing stuff, etc till she was about 16yo. Then she got more distant but thought well this happens, she’s out with friends, etc, it’s normal.

she’s always been well behaved and worked hard, done well at school, etc with no pressure from us.

I offered to pay for her to live in halls at uni but she declined, we let her do what she liked and never interfered with her life or gave her any house rules.

If I’m honest she’s been spoilt. Certainly financially. If she wants something she pretty much gets it. 2k laptop for uni (said she needed a high spec), expensive desktop, upgrading stuff on her desktop computer, driving lessons, 6k car. Pay all her insurance, tax, car bills. She has a part time job so didn’t need an allowance while at uni as she got wages plus her student loan.

we paid for her to go on a course to Italy which cost us 3k this summer, it was Paris with a friend the year before that. She said to me yesterday that she wants a new laptop for Xmas.

she had a boyfriend while at uni and they split up at Xmas. Her choice. From what I saw she was vile to him, but she said he was horrible to her beh8nd closed doors. She dumped him, I sympathised. Since then she seems in a foul mood constantly

If anything goes wrong she has a meltdown, rages, shouts at me and rages (dh keeps out the way).

she was dog sitting a few weeks ago and rang me at work saying she needed £80 now as she was booking her speed awareness course and had no money as she’d spent it all on food as was living at this house she was dog sitting at. At no point did she clearly say to me she needed money for food. I transferred the £80, told her I couldn’t buy food for two households but there was plenty of stuff here (5 miles away) she could come and get. She slammed the phone down on me. A few weeks before this I told her she needed to sign on for universal credit but she has refused.

so she went to Italy for three weeks. Came back and said she has sorted out an au pair job and as soon as she can is leaving. She’s having a nightmare sorting out the visa, I have been googling and trying to help and she had a meltdown today.

Said she is doing it “all on my own”. I pointed out I’ve been trying to help and have actually found out how to book the visa appt today and while she was on the phone to me with her encouragement booked the appointment. She is now raging at me for booking at . She then said she hasn’t booked the language course which she needs to do to get a certificate for her visa. I’d given her £500 towards an £800 course a few days ago and yesterday she told me she’d booked it. Turns out that was a lie. She doesn’t want that language school as she’s heard the govt have clocked that it gives out dodgy visa letter (she should be at the school for the whole year but £800 is about 4 weeks of lessons but they will do you a letter saying it’s a year). So she needs to pay 3k for a better language school.

I said I’m not paying 3k for a language school for her. She’s been shouting at me. Saying how much she hates me, that she’s leaving the country because she wants to get away from me. That I’m emotionally abusive. That I was emotionally abusive at Xmas. I asked her to give me one example and she can’t remember. She says we’re a dysfunctional fucked up family and she can’t wait to leave and she’s never coming back. I said fine, if that’s the way you feel then go. She’s screaming that she’s trying but can’t afford to.

She said her whole childhood has been emotionally abusive, that she’s always been unhappy. That I have never supported her. I pointed out all the stuff we’ve done, from paying for tutors, paying for counsellors, helping her write appeal letters when she was nearly kicked out of uni for failing a year, all the financial help. Or she can say is that I give her money so I can throw it back in her face. But I don’t throw it in her face, but I will defend myself trying to give examples of when I think we have supported her.

she was angry because I made a cake this afternoon as she wanted to make one, but she’d just got in after driving a 4 mile round trip to the embassy and not getting seen. So I thought I’d do something nice and that she wanted actual cake, not to be making the cake herself. She’d mentioned about cake yesterday so I was trying to do something nice for her.

my friends say she bullies me. She seems as nice as pie when she wants something, and angry and nasty when she doesn’t get her own way.

she works at the gym I go to and she told staff there that I’d kicked her out after Xmas (she went to live with friends for a few months ) and that her dad had hit her. Which is all lies. I confronted her about that for the first time today and asked her why she lied because it’s embarrassing as I know her colleagues and they asked me about it. She was backtracking and said that her dad did hit her (he smacked her when she was about 6yo and I said no more and he hasn’t). She reckons when she told work that she was referring to that. Which is bullshit. I told her I hadn’t kicked her out and she denied telling work that which I think is also bullshit.

She seems to like being the victim. There’s been minor examples of this with friends, etc where I think she’s said something about them which isn’t true. That they’ve done xyz to her. Im actually beginning to wonder if she has s9me sort of personality disorder. The friends she stayed with im sure she told them I kicked her out. She gets on very well with her (now ex) lecturers at uni and im sure she’s told them this. Her graduation is next week and she hasn’t invited us to it. She wants everyone to feel sorry for her and run round after her.

I to,d her im sad she feels this way but if it’s how she feels then she should go and pointed out I prefer it when she’s not here. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

she’s stormed off now, im sure to go and tell someone how abusive I am to her and probably try and find somewhere else to move to. She has 24k in a bank account which I’d saved for her as a child for a house deposit. I told her if she needs money for expensive Italian language courses she will have to start using her money. Am I right?

OP posts:
suckrifice · 25/08/2023 18:30

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:29

Good point, didn’t think about that. Well she needs to start spending that then. Shame because I saved it for her with the intention of it being a house deposit

Is it already in her name?

EveryOtherNameTaken · 25/08/2023 18:30

Spoiling her has come to bite you on the bum!

Tell her you love her but if she's big enough to make big decisions, she's old enough to earn the money to support them too.

Wish her good luck and tell her you have faith in her to be able to do it 😂

7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:31

Her behaviour is completely unacceptable.

However, something I also thought is that your list of things you’ve done for her are all financial/practical. Have you been emotionally available and supportive?

Obviously not saying you haven’t, as I don’t know you, but food for thought?

suckrifice · 25/08/2023 18:34

She needs to leave before your relationship is even more ruined. Chances are if she leaves now she’ll wake up and in a few years you can have a decent relationship again.

And your dh needs to know about the abuse. Why have you not told him? This aspect I find interesting. You are still protecting her, even though it is you she is accusing. Why is this?

7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:34

Why did she need a counsellor, OP?

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:34

I did calmly tell her earlier it was unacceptable and that it’s probably best if she does go because I’ve had enough. She went out

She’s now come home and apologised. Says she’s very stressed due to struggling with the visa and not knowing what to do. She says she had counselling at uni since Xmas and they reckon she has trust issues. She told them I was firey when she was growing up. And that’s what’s given her trust issues and also made her firey . I still feel she’s making excuses/blaming me but she says she’s not.

OP posts:
determinedtomakethiswork · 25/08/2023 18:36

It would break my heart to think of that £24,000 that I had so diligently saved just being spent by her on nothing. I know there are tax breaks on that sort of thing, but I really think parents should be allowed to keep it from their children until they are older than that.

It sounds as though she's going to have a bit of a rough ride now, because if she goes abroad, she will be expected to act like an adult. I'm sure she will be okay in the end. Try not to burn any bridges though.

Hawkins009 · 25/08/2023 18:36

@DDstress
Your correct
You have given as much help and support as you can, and omg your dd reminds me of the character from Charlie and the choc factory the one that wanted the golden goose.

All the best and positivity
Plus making the cake was a very kind gesture.
And yes your friends are correct your dd is very omg behaviour.

OfficerChurlish · 25/08/2023 18:37

Regardless of the past, she's 22 and has a uni degree; if she wants to au pair there are ways to do it. I appreciate that Italy is much harder because of Brexit; perhaps she could look at a Working Holiday Visa somewhere like Canada or Australia; all she really needs for that is proof of passport/identity and a fairly small amount of money in the bank. But she's being ridiculous about the visa appointment - even if you'd made it without consulting her, it's simple to cancel or change and no need for a meltdown.

SeulementUneFois · 25/08/2023 18:39

I'm sorry but her latest "apology" is full of shit.
How is any of that related, let alone justification, for telling people you kicked her out?
That's just malicious - malignant, even.
Ask her that, together with DH, and don't let her away with not answering.

suckrifice · 25/08/2023 18:39

She IS blaming you though? She comes back and apologises, but she has still told people you have abused her. It’s unacceptable! One apology means nothing in all of this. She knows exactly where she has you. Change your pattern of behaviour and it might make her change hers.

Merapi · 25/08/2023 18:39

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:28

It’s since brexit. You can’t go to Europe and au pair. But if you are there on a student visa then you can work as an au pair. I don’t know about families paying for it, they’ve said they won’t. It has to be 20 hours a week of language classes to count for the student visa so woukd be loads of money if you actually did it for a year.

So? Not your circus, not your monkeys.

She's an adult. If she's so determined, then she can jolly well facilitate it herself. How dare she expect you to bend over backwards to accommodate her wishes when she is so vile to you?

determinedtomakethiswork · 25/08/2023 18:39

Yes, Canada would be great and she wouldn't need to learn the language either.

7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:39

What does she mean by ‘fiery’ OP?

Sounds like you did a good job of closing down her unreasonable behaviour. Listen to her as well, though.

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:40

7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:31

Her behaviour is completely unacceptable.

However, something I also thought is that your list of things you’ve done for her are all financial/practical. Have you been emotionally available and supportive?

Obviously not saying you haven’t, as I don’t know you, but food for thought?

I think so but she says not.

so for example she applied for a job a few months ago and didn’t get it and was upset. She got the email while we were out for lunch and was a bit teary. I thought I gave her a good pep talk about how not to take it personally and there were other jobs there but I acknowledged it was disappointing. Told her knock backs like this will happen, etc

she said a few days later she thought i should have been more upset 🤷‍♀️. I told her I was gutted for her but was trying not to make it sound like it was the end of the world (because it wasn’t)

we’ve had conversations about her boyfriend when she was having issues with him and I tried to be helpful. He crashed his car drink driving and I spent a day driving her about trying to find him as he’d done a runner from the scene. So yes that was practical I guess but was trying to calm her down/emotionally support her at the same time.

OP posts:
determinedtomakethiswork · 25/08/2023 18:40

Maybe you could tell her that the very last thing you'd like her to do is to go to Canada. Or Australia. Tell her it's forbidden. Tell her it would break your heart if she went there.

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:42

7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:39

What does she mean by ‘fiery’ OP?

Sounds like you did a good job of closing down her unreasonable behaviour. Listen to her as well, though.

She can’t give examples apart from one time when she was about 13yo and she was playing up and I did lose my shit with her and shouted. Can’t even remember what it was about but I’m not normally a shouty person at all.

OP posts:
7eleven · 25/08/2023 18:43

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:40

I think so but she says not.

so for example she applied for a job a few months ago and didn’t get it and was upset. She got the email while we were out for lunch and was a bit teary. I thought I gave her a good pep talk about how not to take it personally and there were other jobs there but I acknowledged it was disappointing. Told her knock backs like this will happen, etc

she said a few days later she thought i should have been more upset 🤷‍♀️. I told her I was gutted for her but was trying not to make it sound like it was the end of the world (because it wasn’t)

we’ve had conversations about her boyfriend when she was having issues with him and I tried to be helpful. He crashed his car drink driving and I spent a day driving her about trying to find him as he’d done a runner from the scene. So yes that was practical I guess but was trying to calm her down/emotionally support her at the same time.

It’s tough. I’m honestly not judging you.

Theunamedcat · 25/08/2023 18:44

Honestly you can't cry everytime your mid does its not how things work

User4732 · 25/08/2023 18:44

I thought I should respond to this thread, OP, as I'm going through a weirdly similar situation. We are now having some family therapy (online) which I don't feel is very going well but I also feel that I have to give it a go. The whole thing is very distressing.

DDstress · 25/08/2023 18:46

suckrifice · 25/08/2023 18:39

She IS blaming you though? She comes back and apologises, but she has still told people you have abused her. It’s unacceptable! One apology means nothing in all of this. She knows exactly where she has you. Change your pattern of behaviour and it might make her change hers.

She’s now denying it. Says she told them that things at home were “bad” but that she didn’t say dh had it her or that I kicked her out. But that things were so bad she had to leave.

it was only one person who told me this and she is a slight shit stirrer but I don’t think she’d actually make something up. So I think Dd might still be lying. She went flying down to work when she left here and complained to the manager that this member of staff had talked to me about something which was meant to be in confidence. Well it sounds like Dd told her manager it in confidence and it’s been blabbed all round the gym! The person who told me shouldn’t have known apparently.

OP posts:
AuntMarch · 25/08/2023 18:46

Surely someone like this would hate a job like that?!

whoisjoe · 25/08/2023 18:47

Start treating her like an adult. I was out and had my first flat at 19, went to uni and worked without help from parents . She needs to learn to be independent- let her learn

Itsnotrightbutitsok · 25/08/2023 18:47

It sounds as though you’ve just thrown money at her which you thought was the right thing but now she’s turned spoilt.

Just stop giving her so much money.
If she has a job then she needs to earn it. You could even just say you’ll match what she saves.

It does sound quite dysfunctional if I’m being honest if her dad ‘keeps out of it’.
Why isn’t he the one dealing with her half of the time?

If I told my mum I wanted to make a cake and then I came home and she had made one then I’d be very upset as that’s something more than just cake.

Obviously you won’t say on here but I do think it’s very important that you think about whether you actually knew she wanted to make a cake or not.

BumpyaDaisyevna · 25/08/2023 18:48

She sounds like she has some difficulties with feeling separate from you. If you are not having the same feelings and responses as her then to her it feels like you don't care enough.

She doesn't like the idea that it is her life and her problem and that although you are sympathetic and willing to help, it is not your life, it is not you that didn't get the job.

She sounds very enmeshed with you and you with her.

It's more than "spoiling" her - I think you've wanted to protect and insure her against any disappointment or consequences or usual hard knocks of life.

Your DH "keeps out of it" so there is no third person to triangulate the intensity and the enmeshment.

And there's been no siblings to do that either.

I think your DH needs to step in and assert himself and his place as your partner. At the moment in her mind it's as if you and she are the main partnership in the house.

He could kindly tell her that she needs to sort herself out and find something to do. She has £24k and a car behind her after all!