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Moving in with another family can be a huge adjustment, especially when their house runs very differently from yours.

That’s the situation one single mom found herself in after financial problems forced her and her two kids to move in with a friend.

Her friend has been generous, but she also has stricter rules about things like screen time, chores, and car seats.

The kids, especially her 8-year-old son, hate the new setup and keep asking to live somewhere else.

Now, other relatives and friends are telling the mom she should find another arrangement if the kids are that unhappy.

Read on to see what you think about the whole situation.

AITA for moving my kids into a house with strict rules

I’m a single parent to 2 kids (5F and 8M).

A few weeks ago, my kids and I moved in with my friend, her husband, and their kids (10F, 7F, 4F, 3F) after my kids’ dad stopped paying child support and I could no longer afford to stay in our house.

My friend moved my daughter into her younger two kids’ room, gave my son her husband’s office, and I’m in the guest room. Both rooms have been set up for the kids. They’re in between nannies at the moment and are allowing me to use the nanny’s car so I can sell my car to pay off some debt.

She and her friend have different ideas of rules.

My friend is a bit more strict than I am, especially in 2 areas: screen time and car seats.

I didn’t really have screen time rules for my kids (I would monitor, but didn’t have set rules about time limits).

My friend only allows screen time for an hour a day on weekends, plus family movie night on Fridays. She also has YouTube blocked on nearly every device in the house, and most video games are banned.

There’s not a shortage of things to do at the house though.

She has plenty of toys, there’s a massive swing set in the backyard, they have a membership to an athletic club with 4 pools, and their house is on a lake. We’re a 5-minute walk from the beach.

As for car seats, I had allowed my son to stop using a booster seat, and I let my daughter ride in a high-backed booster. My friend says that while we’re using her car, my son needs to be in a booster and my daughter needs a car seat. She provided the seats.

Her house is more strict than ours overall.

Now, some people think she should move to somewhere the kids are happier.

All of the kids have chores, and there’s a lot more structure than we’re used to. The kids, especially my son, are struggling to adjust. They say they hate it here, they hate my friend, and they want to go live with their dad or my parents.

Some other friends and my family think that if the kids are miserable, I should find some other living arrangements for us and figure out a way to make it work. I’m not planning to be here for long. Hopefully, we’ll be on our feet by the end of the summer. I’ve already promised that we’ll be out by October.

I think they can survive 3.5 months of stricter rules and routines, but nearly everyone else thinks I should figure out alternate living arrangements to make the kids happy.

AITA?

Oh no! That sounds like quite the situation for everyone involved.

Let’s see if the fine folks over at Reddit have any useful advice for her.

According to this person, she would only be wrong if she moved out.

This person thinks the friend is doing them a favor.

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For this person, it sounds more like the kids are just struggling.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a sister with a bad history who found herself staying in a hotel instead of with family.

Here’s someone who finds all of the rules pretty reasonable.

The kids are probably having a hard time because almost everything changed at once.

That doesn’t mean the mom needs to uproot them again just because they don’t like the new rules.

Her friend is giving them a place to stay and asking them to follow the same expectations as everyone else in the house.

For now, the better move is probably to help the kids adjust while she keeps working toward getting them back into their own place.

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Author

Heather Hall

Heather Hall | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Heather Hall is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in internet culture, workplace conflict, and viral customer service stories. With over a decade of editorial experience in digital publishing, Heather excels at curating trending online discussions and providing insightful commentary on the daily dramas that capture the internet's attention.

Since beginning her career in 2011, she has developed deep expertise in SEO-driven digital content, having written for a wide array of publications covering lifestyle, business, and travel. At TwistedSifter, Heather focuses on synthesizing complex social media threads into engaging, highly readable narratives that highlight the human element of viral news.

When she isn’t analyzing the latest internet discourse, Heather is a dedicated mother of three sons who takes family gaming nights entirely too seriously—whether she is dominating in Mario Kart, exploring The Legend of Zelda, or jumping into Roblox.

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