Being a 13-year-old girl is tough going sometimes; trust me - I was one. Aside from the whole puberty thing, the catty schoolmates, and the sudden obsession with celebrity crushes, there's one aspect of teenage life that makes every day just a little bit harder: parents.
Because even though they know that you are currently battling a strange world of hormones and anxiety, they still throw in extra obstacles by constantly (and, from a teenage girl's perspective, unreasonably) demanding that you do your chores or get out of bed before midday.
And one mum took that to the extreme this week by suggesting that she would kick her 13-year-old daughter out of her room if she continued to leave it in such a "disgusting" state.
In a post on Mumsnet's infamous "AIBU" (am I being unreasonable) section, one user, "Donthugmeimscared", asked whether it was unreasonable "To make [her daughter] give up her room if she can't look after it".
"I am so sick of dd [darling daughter] 13 living in filth. She is disgusting. We are in a three-bed house and her brothers 7 and 10 share. I’m so fed up with her mess that I’ve told her that if she doesn’t sort it out she’s sharing with her 7 yr old ds [darling sibling] and her 10yr old ds can have her room as he will actually appreciate it."
She then continued:
"By disgusting I mean gross she couldn’t give a toss what she leaves on the floor including underwear where her San pro has leaked. I’ve helped her many times to clean it only for the floor to be covered in crap by the next day. Even worse if I take clean clothes in for her to put away she just chucks it on top of the mess. It’s only a small box room so gets bad fast and according to her I’m stressing her out telling her to clean it and it’s her human right to have a room for herself."
In fairness to the mother, this does sound super gross. However, not everyone agreed with her stance on how to deal with the matter.
"It's her room," wrote one user. "Does it matter if it's messy?"
"You can't expect a teenage girl to share with a younger boy," said another. "And it's not fair on him to have to put up with her mess. I would help her clear her room and then it's up to her to keep it tidy after that. I would do weekly checks to help her keep on top of it. But really you should be helping her keep it clean."
But, of course, some fellow parents empathised with the problem.
"You are not being unreasonable," chipped in one mum. "If I didnt have enough rooms for each child to have their own, then the child who most deserved it would be getting their own room not the one who was born first. I would be worried about making 7 year old ds share with her though as hes probably happier sharing with his tidy brother and it wouldnt be fair for him to be punished."
In this case, then, the majority of people sided with the messy teen - but they also provided some solutions for the mother on how she could deal with the problem.
Take it from me, though, if you want to teach a teenager a lesson, there's one thing that's guaranteed to work: stop paying their phone bill until the place is clean. After all, what are they going to do in that gross room all day if they can't text their friends?
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