IT can be hard when your birds leave the nest, but a set of parents have taken their child’s departure for college particularly hard.
Worse, she were shocked when her son cut them off “out of nowhere.”
Redditor Smol-Wren shared the parenting dilemma in a post.
The parent had aired her grievances in a college parenting advice forum.
Her son, she explained, turned 21 and began his fourth year of college.
“We had a big fight on Monday, and he is not talking to us,” she said.
While most fights between parent and child eventually die off, her son explained that he was severely displeased with having his location tracked on his phone.
“He told us he did not want to be tracked anymore,” the mom revealed.
She, however, refused to budge.
“We tried to reason with him and reminded him these apps have helped so many families, like when kids get into accidents,” she said.
“And he goes to school across the country in a dangerous area. But he insisted we are just exaggerating about the danger and that he was going to delete all the apps no matter what.”
When her son doubled down, she played her trump card.
“We told him okay, but we are paying for tuition, housing, flights, home, and phone bills, and he needed to keep the tracking on,” she said.
“Then he got quiet and said OK, then we could take him off the phone plan, and he would take us off the tuition portal.”
The mom explained that the response was an unexpected turn of events.
“My husband and I were shocked. My husband asked, ‘Don’t you think that’s a bit extreme?’ After all, we have had such a good system going. My son said fine, he would pay us back for the tuition we paid, and that was that,” she said.
I don’t get it, if you asked me last week, I would have said we had a GREAT relationship with our child.
She admitted that she thought her son was “joking” at first but was flabbergasted when she suddenly lost access to the tuition portal.
“We also don’t see any activity on our phone plan for his line. I thought he was just acting out, but then yesterday night, he sent back all the tuition and housing we have paid,” she said.
“Roughly $25,000, since we had generous need scholarships and he has been working during the school year. We tried to reach out but he has also blocked us on everything.”
The move confused the parenting duo, who asked their two younger kids for updates on him, only to be left in the dark.
“I don’t get it, if you asked me last week, I would have said we had a GREAT relationship with our child,” she said.
“The tracking issue hasn’t come up in years.”
She revealed that despite her husband’s wishes for him to go to a nearby school, her son headed off to a more prestigious university after receiving financial aid.
During school breaks, her son also rarely returned home, choosing to go abroad and do internships instead.
“We found out just this summer he’d been dating a girl for nine months,” she added.
“I still don’t know where he got this money! I know he has worked but a lot of that money has gone straight into his portion of food and lodging.”
While the mom believed her son’s reaction was irrational, viewers were more understanding.
“He’s 21 and managed to get his hands on $25k. Looks like he doesn’t need them!” said one commenter.
Many felt that her son’s decision was well overdue and intentionally planned out.
“Honestly, he might have been saving precisely for this eventuality. I know I would have if I had been in his shoes,” said one commenter.
“And this is why people go no contact with their parents,” said another.
“The only thing they regret is not controlling their kid more. They’re not doing an ounce of self-reflection,” said a third.
“I hope the kid is able to get some therapy and help his younger siblings do the same.”
