She Wanted To Finish High School With Her Family’s Support, But After Being Forced Out, She Drew A Firm Boundary Around The School Event
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Family arguments can become deeply painful when love and housing start feeling conditional.
An 18-year-old girl apologized after an emotional fight, hoping her father would let her move home again.
Instead, he connected her housing situation to whether she allowed him to join her senior night ceremony.
Read on for the full breakdown.
AITA for not wanting my dad to walk me on my senior night since he won’t let me move back in?
“I’m just a middle class American teenager. I have a car and both my parents are well off and own homes. I’m not living in Gaza or anything terrible like that. I get it.
But I’m 18f and a senior in high school, I have straight A’s and a full-ride to a university next year. It’s not my dream school, but I know I’ll end up going there because the economy is terrible and while my parents are ok money-wise, free is free.
My parents are divorced and remarried, my dad has been with my stepmom for a while and my mom and stepdad have been together about 5 years. A few months ago I was diagnosed with a tick-borne disease and can’t have red meat products. It’s terrible and I get so sick if I have anything. I miss steak.
But a few weeks ago – the night before a dance – my dad was making dinner. I was at his house on one of the days I normally wouldn’t be because my mom was out of town and I don’t like staying alone.
He made my little brother’s favorite meal that I didn’t know had beef stock in it. Just to clarify, since I’d never read the meal I asked if it was okay to eat and he said yes.
Later when I got sick he checked the recipe again and felt terrible and admitted there was beef stock and he forgot. That’s obviously not his fault but later when I was sick we started fighting about the dance.
That’s a bummer…
I got SUPER sick and had to miss my senior fall dance. Which I KNOW isn’t the end of the world, but it really felt like it WAS and I got into a huge fight with my dad. He called me spoiled and high maintenance, and I know I said things like I can’t stand him and he doesn’t care about me and left to stay at my mom’s.
We’d fought before, and I’d cooled off and went back to his house on my normal day, thinking we’d just apologize to one another like normal but when I got there he told me that he’d packed up my room (into TRASH BAGS) and that he wasn’t going to take abuse from his adult child. I thought he was joking but he wasn’t.
I was crying a bunch and my stepmom was yelling at my dad. She gave me one of her credit cards and told me to call her if I ever needed anything and I’ve been staying at my mom’s ever since, which isn’t great.
She feels like she’s in the way.
She and her husband kind of do their own thing and I just feel like I bother them. I recently broke up with my boyfriend, too, and he’s been kind of bothering me and I asked my dad to tell him to stop but he told me I needed to deal with my own issues on my own.
So I asked my stepdad which was embarrassing because I don’t know him very well and I don’t know if he even fixed the situation and seemed annoyed until my mom finally talked to my ex. He finally left me alone, but now his friends keep messing with me online and in person at school.
My senior night for my team is this weekend. I wanted my dad there, and told him I’d buy him lunch this past weekend to talk. I told him I knew that what I said was wrong, and I wasn’t trying to make excuses but I was feeling so bad and was so upset about the dance, and him calling me high maintenance and spoiled also hurt.
Her dad is standing firm on this one.
He said he knew that emotions were high, but I was an adult now and actions had consequences. I get that! But if I was the first teenager to fight with her parents I would understand.
I’m a good kid! I have a scholarship and a job and I know kids who have gotten like DUIs and their parents still love them and let them live with them. He said he loved me, but I needed to learn consequences and that he’d still go to my senior night but I told him don’t bother.
I had wanted all four of them to walk me but now I just want to walk myself. I don’t feel supported by any of them and just paid and went to leave. He told me that if I didn’t let him walk me at my senior night I could kiss ever moving back in with him ever again goodbye.
If you say so…
I told him that was fine, I was just so done trying to convince him that I was worthy of living in his house, if my parents weren’t divorced it wouldn’t even be a question if I’m allowed to live with my own dad.
I’m fine with my decision, I have so many other things going on. My ex’s friends are giving me problems, I’m playing like garbage anyways and will probably be benched soon so it doesn’t matter.
But my grandparents and even my stepmom have called and asked me to answer my dad’s calls and talk to him, and have said that I’ve upset him.
I’m not trying to upset them, but I just am not in a good place to deal with all of this with him right now and don’t want anyone there.
There’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to walk that night.”
Reddit users spoke up.
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This person chimed in.
Another reader said she’s NTA.
This individual agreed.
Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an adult child who feels like their family is asking them to donate to a fundraiser beyond their means.
And this person weighed in.
This teenager admitted that her angry words were wrong, but her father responded by packing her belongings and refusing to let her return home.
He then used senior night as another condition, leaving her feeling unsupported while she was already dealing with illness, heartbreak, and harassment.
Parenting should not turn housing into a bargaining chip.
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