A 22-year-old woman was left feeling isolated and upset after her father refused to allow her to come back home because of how his girlfriend reacted to the news.
Posting to the subreddit r/AITA, she claimed that her dad refused to house her while she tried to get back on her feet financially, and now it may have cost them their relationship.
A dad told his financially strapped daughter she couldn’t move in with him because his girlfriend didn’t want her living with them.
In her Reddit postthe young woman explained that she’d moved out of her dad’s house almost two years ago, and the initial deal that he made was that, no matter what, she was always welcome back if she found herself struggling to support herself financially. As a college student working full-time, she admitted that it’s hard not to lean on her father for support.
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This seems to be the case for a slew of 20-somethings, especially those who are either still in college or recently graduated. Nearly one-third, or 31%, of Generation Z adults, live at home with parents because they can’t afford to buy or rent their own space, according to a recent report by Intuit Credit Karma that polled 1,249 people age 18 and older.
Since her lease ends in less than a month, she and her dad agreed that she’d move in with him, but was confused when his tune suddenly changed.
She received a text from him that said he’d told his girlfriend about her moving in with them, and she immediately shut down the idea, saying she’d need to find other accommodations that weren’t her dad’s house.
The dad’s girlfriend argued that his daughter would make too much noise if she lived with them.
“Her reasoning was that she didn’t want to have to hear me in the basement late at night since I get off work super late,” she continued. “I would’ve been quiet; the most noise would’ve been the alarm going off for 5 seconds when I opened the door. He told me this two weeks before my lease is up.”
She attempted to make a case for herself and reminded her dad that moving in with him had been agreed upon months ago. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go and has made all her plans, assuming she’d have her dad’s place to fall back on. She told her dad that since he was backing out of their plans, she was essentially going to become homeless.
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“If I had known sooner that I couldn’t move back in, I would’ve looked for somewhere else,” she pointed out. “He told me I needed to grow up and handle this like an adult … to figure out my own problems.”
It’s definitely unfair that her dad is only changing his mind because of his girlfriend.
Instead of talking to her about it and maybe allowing his daughter the opportunity to show that she wouldn’t be a terrible houseguest to have around, he made up his mind and followed his girlfriend’s lead.
His daughter insisted that she wouldn’t be making a ton of noise, and he didn’t even allow her the chance to prove that.
It’s extremely hard for young adults to make a life for themselves in this economy. With inflation, increasing student loan debts, and rent prices being severely unaffordable, many 20-somethings don’t really have that many options when it comes to living on their own.
For her dad to insist that she needs to “grow up” and be an adult is neglecting to take into consideration that it isn’t about growing up, but rather the circumstances of life that many young people are also going through. On top of that, she’s still in college and shouldn’t be expected to juggle everything else while obtaining her degree.
If he doesn’t put his foot down with his girlfriend, his decision could have lasting effects on the relationship he has with his daughter.
By prioritizing his girlfriend’s needs over his daughter’s, he proved to his daughter that she may not be able to depend on him as much as she originally thought, which shouldn’t be the case at all.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.
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