Internet Supports Dad for Hinting Unhappy Adult Daughters Should Move Out

Members of a popular internet forum were vocal in their support of one father who suggested his pair of adult daughters move out of the family home.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/worlebird (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said his youngest daughter has complained about not having enough space in the home and detailed the heated aftermath of his plain response.

Titled, “[Am I the a**hole] for telling my daughters our house will be big enough for my wife and I once they eventually move out?” the post has received more than 6,400 votes and nearly 900 comments in the last day.

Beginning with the explanation that both of his daughters are older than 21, the original poster said the pair still lives at home with him and his wife. Despite the close family dynamic, however, the original poster said his recent musings about an empty nest have heightened familial tensions.

“My youngest daughter has been complaining that she doesn’t have enough room to herself, and that we should move to a bigger house in order to fix that problem,” OP wrote. “I responded that I thought our current house would be plenty big enough…once my daughters both eventually move out on their own.”

“This made her incredibly angry, and my wife has scolded me for the damage my comment has done,” OP continued.

“I think mine is a reasonable position to take – I am not trying to kick them out of the house, but they are old enough that if they are uncomfortable living at home, it is their responsibility to do something about that,” OP added.

The last two years, due in part to COVID-19 and skyrocketing inflation rates, have seen more adult children move back in with their parents (or simply not move out of their parents’ home) than any other point in U.S. history.

In July 2020, Pew Research Center reported that 52 percent of young adults resided with one or both of their parents, marking the highest level since the Great Depression.

And while that figure has declined since mid-2020, Pew reported in March 2022 that the share of the U.S. population living in multigenerational homes currently sits at 18 percent, up from just 7 percent in 1971.

Although many parents have welcomed their college-aged children back into their homes, and a recent Savings.com report revealed that more than 50 percent of parents provide their adult children with some form of financial assistance, there is still major pressure for young adults to get out on their own.

Throughout the viral post’s comment section, Redditors responding to the original poster acknowledged this pressure, and echoed the sentiment that if his daughters are unhappy living with home, it is up to them to do something about it.

“[Not the a**hole],” Redditor u/Fastr77 wrote in the post’s top comment, which has received more than 9,000 votes.

“I know s**t’s different [nowadays] and maybe they can’t afford a place but yeah,” they continued. “It’s only a matter of time at this point. They should want to move out after all.”

Redditor u/DogmaticNuance, whose comment has received more than 2,300 votes, offered a similar response.

“It’s f**king hard to launch these days and living at home for years is often the best solution, but damn,” they wrote. “That doesn’t entitle you to demand an expansion.”

“As long as they’re done with school it’s on them to either accept the (decent) home you provide or go out and earn enough of a living to rent their own,” Redditor u/sparkyclarkson added, receiving nearly 1,000 votes.

In a separate comment, Redditor u/Mobile-Feed-9928 defended the original poster and questioned whether upgrading to a larger house is as simple as it sounds.

“It is hard to get a house or an [apartment] or whatever, but that doesn’t change for the parents either,” they wrote. “Even if they wanted to move to a different place, they’d still have the same issues as people wanting to move out.”