No one tells you how guilty it can feel to want space from the people you love most.

So, what would you do if your mother asked why you might move out for college, and your honest answer, “to finally have my own room,” ended up hurting her feelings?

Would you defend your need for privacy? Or would you apologize and try to fix the situation?

In the following story, a teen girl finds herself in this exact dilemma and can’t seem to undo the damage.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for telling my mum the main reason i would move out for uni is so i could get my own room?

I (17f) live with my mum, my two younger sisters (15 and 13), and my younger brother (10). We live in a 2-bedroom house, so I have to share a room with all my siblings.

This has been the setup for most of my life. I am in my second year of college, so I am considering my university options.

My mum asked me yesterday whether or not I was thinking of moving out.

She told her mother exactly how she was feeling.

I don’t want to because I already have to take out a tuition fee loan and don’t want to have to use an even bigger maintenance loan. I also work and don’t want to give that up because of the pay (I don’t need to ask my Mum for money anymore and can contribute to birthday and Christmas presents for my siblings).

I explained these reasons to my mum and added that the only reason I would move out is so I could have my own space. My mum got really offended and asked what I meant.

I explained that I would love to have my own room as I have shared all my life, but that would be the main reason, and that staying home would be much better.

Now, her mother is upset.

She got angry at this and said I was ungrateful for her sacrifices and didn’t appreciate what I had. I was surprised by this because I didn’t think I was being rude.

I am very grateful for what my mum has done for me, it’s why I got a job, so I didn’t have to take money from her and can help her with other things.

However, she seemed really hurt by what I said. I have apologised, but I still feel really bad.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see both sides of this situation, but the mother may have overreacted a little bit.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about what she said.

For this person, it’s a way to manipulate her into staying.

This person offers a few different perspectives.

Here’s a good point.

Harsh, but sort of true.

She’s not wrong here. And her mom took this way too far, because there’s no crime against wanting privacy.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.