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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:
FragileIsAsFragileDoes · 25/08/2023 20:53

JemimaTiggywinkles · 25/08/2023 20:31

OP, have you ever allowed her to fail? Or to solve her own problems? It sounds to me like she is not just financially spoilt, but also that she's been completely coddled. Most parents who do this - constantly stepping in to prevent a problem or to solve it - think they're helping and being kind, but (ime) kids end up with poor self esteem and no resilience.

From your examples (helping her appeal something at uni, driving her round looking for her drunk-driver boyfriend, making the cake because you thought she'd be too tired) all sound really odd to me. By 22 I was dealing with uni myself, I'd be ditching the drunk driver and I'd be seriously pissed off if my mum had taken it upon herself to make a cake I'd specifically said I wanted to make. Because by that age I'd been taught to be independent and trust my own judgement - with parents very much in a back seat role.

If I were you I'd step right back. Tough love time. No more money, no more solving her problems for her. If she ASKS you specifically for help and is polite about it then show her what to do - but don't do it for her.

Completely agree with the sentiment but if you bring up an incapable child it is kind of difficult (and cruel) to suddenly abandon them to their own inadequate resources. Sounds like she has the coping skills of a 14yo and needs to be rapidly trained upto 22 - maybe over weeks rather than days! But if she can't organise herself to get abroad, you can be sure she won't survive abroad and will be back on your hands OP, so don't do everything for her, even with the understandable desire to be rid of her.

This widespread pathologisation excusing of bad behaviour and immaturity makes me want to SCREAM.

Cailin66 · 25/08/2023 20:57

DDstress · 25/08/2023 17:54

Oh absolutely. And I’m torn whether to sit down with her tomorrow or not to go through a checklist of what she needs for her visa appointment or not. I know if i don’t there’s a 99% chance she won’t have everything and it’ll be a wasted and expensive trip to London. And then she might lose her au pair job and right now I just want to see the back of her.

You have created a monster. She is a spoilt brat. She thinks nothing of lying, she knows exactly how to manipulate you.

And here you are again trying to micro manage for her. She can’t be bothered to sort herself out for a job and you’re making excuses to do the work for her. You’re not doing anything to stop enabling her to continue to do all the things you hate about her.

SpamFrittersYouSay · 25/08/2023 21:05

TheDogthatDug · 25/08/2023 18:57

I'm sick to bloody death of the ADHD/ND excuse being trotted out to excuse bad behaviour (not by the OP BTW). OP, you have created a spoiled brat.

I agree.

Stop excusing her. Stop trying to excuse yourself.

She's spoilt. You've admitted to spoiling her.
She knows she's spoilt hence the intermittent apologies which she deliberately spouts in order to garner sympathy and more money/help.

You need to break this circle of behaviour.

No more support other than for welfare.

She's more than capable of creating her own future. You know that. She also knows that but she wants the drama to put her in the forefront of her own drama-hence bringing up things from her past- to big her up and inflate her own drama.

You won't win so don't treat it as a battle.

Just leave her to her own devices. Harsh but resilience building does seem to be lacking in younger folk these days ... and this has been coming since long before Covid.

Mumof51971 · 25/08/2023 21:15

Please stop financially bailing her out. She is playing you. I initially thought possibly ND however she is very selective with her behaviour and can control herself outside of the home. She is manipulating you and her father. I am assuming she is an only child as you don’t mention any others and she’s had 22 years of when she says jump you ask how high. You are NOT her emotional punchbag. I certainly wouldn’t be giving her full access to 24k as it’s very clear she has no respect for money and the financial cost of things because you have never let her take responsibility for herself.

She is an ADULT. Let her make her own mistakes and please let her take responsibility for her actions.

On the ND issue. I have ADHD I was diagnosed in my 40s. I havnt behaved like an intolerable spoilt brat all my life. ND or not it is NEVER an excuse for her behaviour. Being ND doesn’t make us selfish, arrogant and entitled. If she messes up her visa that’s her fault not yours. Also the lies she’s telling are downright unfair and dangerous. Challenge her together with your husband as a United front do NOT let her play you off against each other as it seems to me she is an expert at it. Have a conversation with your husband first and then sit her down and calmly tell her you will no longer put up with her behaviour. If she doesn’t like it give her some of the 24k to put a deposit on a rented flat and tell her to stand in her own two feet. About the UC issue tell her all financial help is now finished and she either claims it, has no finances of her own or leaves.

Im sure her friends can see she’s an entitled brat as well. And I’d not be worrying about what others think as you know the facts and the truth and that’s all that matters. I am so sorry she is behaving this way but if you don’t do something about it now then I’m afraid it’s your own fault.

I am also a bit perplexed with the amount of people suggesting ADHD or Autism when it’s highly likely she’s just a spoilt selfish brat who knows that causing a scene and stamping her feet gets her everything she wants 👀

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

NorwayLass · 25/08/2023 21:17

what was she like before uni? The incident at uni seems to have effected her deeply. She sounds so unhappy and frustrated, desperate to leave home but lacking the skills to be independent and hindered by ADHD.

Can you start by talking about your own ADHD and its symptoms, your strategies, how it makes you feel at times. She will likely put two and two together.

Also help her apply for the au pair job, the challenges involved with the role will likely help her develop practical coping strategies. Will also help her grow up a bit.

ValerieDoonican · 25/08/2023 21:17

Im not sure you need another post on this thread OP, youve had so many .. but I was puzzled by the fact that she just asks for expensive stuff and you rush off and buy it. Like the Dursleys in Harry Potter. Puzzled, because it seems like you have had no expectation that your dd would ever need to grow up and work out how to be reposible for deciding how spend her own money - to learn to cut her coat according to her cloth, as it were.

Are you frightened she will think you don't love her if you stop giving her everything she asks for? Im astounded that a 22 year old can't feed herself. But has she ever had to?

I cant quite put my finger on how this is making me feel, but assuming you have to do everything for her feels almost as though you don't respect her ability to do anything for herself. That you don't see her as an adult or capable of being one . And that might be why she was upset about the cake - as though you were indicating that you didn't really have confidence in her ability to do it, so you stepped in. (Even if that was not in fact what you were thinking)

Btw I really don't agree with the posters saying "kick her out she's a spoiled brat". I think fwiw you could try admitting to yourself that you and she are a bit enmeshed in some way, and neither of you have been very proactive in helping her to separate and become an adult. And then start to take careful steps towards facilitating that . Afraid I am not sure, given the toxicity of the atmosphere just now, how you might start on that process though.

RoyalGala · 25/08/2023 21:30

Why oh why have you facilitated her whole life and now wondering why she’s acting like this.
She manipulates you and tells constant lies.
Why is your DH not speaking up for you and just keeping out of the way when she’s being disrespectful to her Mum?
I really don’t know why so many parents pander to their children.

MrsMarzetti · 25/08/2023 21:34

Stop making excuses for her and close your purse. ND or not she is a spoiled brat and you need to put a stop to it now. Have you never told this woman no, have you ever told her to shut the hell up when she talks to you like a POS ? You enable her behaviour and you are doing her no favours. She is a 22 year old woman that sounds unemployable and destined to be single because she is a lying manipulative bully.

molotovcupcakes · 25/08/2023 21:37

I think it's because she did not leave and live with other students at Uni in halls and then flats, as you get the corners knocked off you as the people are so different to you and you have to compromise.
She has lived with you too long and probably feels that she is missing out and that she has fallen behind her peers when it comes to independence.
Italy will do her good, then when she comes home she should move out and live elsewhere otherwise she will ruin her relationship with you, it would be her loss.

Lonicerax · 25/08/2023 22:11

Namddf · 25/08/2023 19:45

I agree that’s so offensive to people who actually are neurodivergent. She doesn’t sound remotely ND to me, just spoilt and manipulative.

Bad, selfish behaviour isn’t really a symptom you know 🙄

She has a mother with adhd and a father who could be that or autistic -inherited traits but she it seems is just spoilt.

Rosejasmine · 25/08/2023 22:11

ValBiro · 25/08/2023 17:40

ND?! Seriously? Based on... What? So offensive!

You've given her an absolute ton of money to get by, OP. She's played you!

No that’s not offensive. It is actually potentially a profile of adhd and/or autism. Seriously!

Tweedlelove · 25/08/2023 22:14

I think the answer is stop giving her money. She sees you as her bank. If she has a degree why isn’t she getting a job in that field. I think I would be encouraging that. Also her lies need to stop. Your husband needs to step up and speak to her if you cannot do it. Her behaviour is not ok.

Yujismum · 25/08/2023 22:20

In your first post OP you said you have paid for numerous things including counsellor/counselling ? Obviously I have no idea why or when and haven’t read all posts so may have missed it. Perhaps she needs to see a counsellor again? She sounds very unhappy and maybe talking might help.

Writingonthewalls · 25/08/2023 22:25

Sadly I have a similar daughter. I still struggle to understand what went wrong, but I think perhaps looking back I gave her too much materially rather than listening to her or spending time with her. She was very spoilt and indulged, and I blame myself for that now. I over compensated for my own quite neglected childhood by sorting every situation, not putting my foot down enough. OH left me to play bad cop in every situation and he can now do no wrong, even though it's always me who sorts out problems and provides the listening ear.

You sound like you do FAR too much for her. She is an adult woman and needs to learn to do things for herself. For Gods sake don't give her the money you have saved, it will be frittered away. Keep it aside until she grows up and starts to behave with some respect. Meantime, leave her to sort out her own issues and take several steps back. Stop giving her any money at all. If she demands something, tell her you are unavailable, you don't feel its appropriate, whatever. If she becomes abusive, calmly walk away or ask her to leave without getting pulled into drama. It really is time for tough love. You've made yourself a doormat, so she is treating you like one.

I know someone else with three daughters who are all spoilt, entitled and rude. They have had money thrown at them all their lives, don't know the value of work and can't take responsibility for themselves. Their mother is a wreck. Don't let this be you.

I do think as others have said that she may feel you use money to show love rather than being a safe adult she can talk to without you rushing to fix things. Fixing things doesn't work if it is done habitually. It doesn't teach life skills or any responsibility and causes resentment between parent and child as time goes on because you are deskilling them and making them dependent on you.

FictionalCharacter · 25/08/2023 22:32

Your friends are correct, she's bullying you.

From what you've said she will find fault with absolutely anything you do or don't do for her. So you should do what's right for you now, and that probably means no more throwing money at her and no more having her live at home. She'll scream and tell everyone you're evil and you've ruined her life, but she says that already when you give her loads of money and help her with everything.

She has very likely lied to the counsellor who is blaming you for how she is. Just as she's lied to other people.

It's a good thing that she's now upset your dh. Maybe now he will step up and put a united front with you in standing up to her.

SD1978 · 25/08/2023 22:38

Only thing that does come out of this, is that all the examples of supporting her, comes down to money. It seems that if there is an issue you are able to pay for, you always do. Did you guys have a good emotional relationship growing up too? It does sound as if she's spoiled- she is so used to getting her own way and money for whatever she wants with no effort on her part

ICanBuyMyOwnBooks · 25/08/2023 22:43

You've listed all this 'drama' in tonnes of detail when it concerns your grievances and then minimised everything your DD has raised as an issue eg her DF hitting her, the cake issue, you being volatile, you offering 'support' in a way that suits you but doesn't meet her needs. And your OP finishes by asking if you're right. You're very focused on what external people 'think' of you from her colleagues to posters on MN. It seems as though you may prioritise your external reputation over the actual dynamics of your family relationships. I don't think being a parent is about being right and I don't think it makes any difference how many strangers validate your views. Your DD and your relationship with her, are the real test of what kind of parent you are.

NewName122 · 25/08/2023 22:47

You've raised a monster.

Jamtartforme · 25/08/2023 22:47

OhcantthInkofaname · 25/08/2023 17:54

You have created a monster. Stop now.

This. She’s vile. Why do you keep transferring her money??

Katbum · 25/08/2023 23:05

Tell her she needs to move out and give her a timeframe. Put some boundaries in place and don’t give her the 24 k unless she tore the line. Stop worrying about if she likes you - start teaching her ways to regulate her behaviour and get her the support she needs to do so

Choc89LoveMe · 25/08/2023 23:28

Start saying no to her, she is an adult and needs to grow up. Only you can stop this op, and do it today.

coffeeandcake00 · 25/08/2023 23:39

When I returned home to live with my Mum after uni, I was quite simply told "this is your home and you will always be welcome here. But you are an adult now so...

  1. You will get a full time job. It may not be your dream job but you work until that job comes along.
  2. You will contribute financially to the cost of utilities and food
  3. You will contribute to the completion of household tasks and will take your turn to cook
  4. You will put aside savings each month so that you are able to move out and become independent at some point, whether that be renting or buying.
  5. Unless I was in a crisis my Mum would not 'loan' me money.

All of this, in my opinion, was sensible and helped my Mum and I to maintain a healthy relationship during the time I lived with her as an adult. I am now a functioning adult with my own family.

crackfoxy · 25/08/2023 23:51

I'm sorry you are going through this, it sounds like you are trying everything and nothing is enough. I would back off in a big way. Keep the £24k in a bank account for her, don't mention it and let her sort herself out. Only help if asked but be specific about what she asking you to do. Don't give her any more ££ and good luck

CauldronOfLove · 25/08/2023 23:59

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.

So the moment you put your foot down she backed down and apologised…

Onelifeonly · 26/08/2023 00:12

It all sounds very hard and it seems you are dealing with it all by yourself which isn't helpful on your DH's part.

I have a dd the same age with ADHD. She can be rude when she gets upset and I recognise the panicking over stresses and minor setbacks. But otherwise she is nothing like this.

Younger dd has some of the traits and behaviours you describe but only, I think, when she feels I'm against her in some way - she has anxiety issues. Mostly she is respectful and reasonable. However one point she has made to me more than once is that sometimes she just wants me to agree that something is awful - I tend to try to be helpful and suggest solutions - but she can take that approach as a criticism even though that's not what I intend, and says she feels I'm dismissing her.

I wonder if this might be what your dd means OP when she describes you unfairly as "abusive". Maybe she just wants your empathy, not your solutions? I was once counselled to say 'is there any way I can help?' rather than to jump in with my own suggestions straight away, and that can work.

If you think about it, if someone always gave you unasked for suggestions every time you had a problem, wouldn't you get stressed by that?