Reddit Split After Frustrated Mom Removes Her Teen Son’s Bedroom Door
Raising children is tough as parents constantly worry about the well-being of their kids. However, one mom is questioning if she took things too far after she "indefinitely" removed her 16-year-old son's door from his bedroom.
The mother-of-two took to Reddit explaining the incident happened after a scary moment in her house recently.
When she heard a mysterious, loud noise, she ran to her son's room fearful that something had happened to him.
When she arrived, she knocked on his door and got "no answer." Fearing the worst, the desperate woman broke the door down.
"I knocked on my son’s door and called his name, no answer. I must have knocked/called 3 times before trying to open the door which was locked. At this point I was getting really freaked out, thinking that maybe he tipped his wardrobe or bookshelf and it had fallen over him and he was passed out on the floor. I was basically screaming his name, no answer," she wrote via Reddit.
That's when she broke the door down: "I have no idea how I did it. I just threw myself [against] the door and it broke. Now, clearly the door was already weak (I’m thinking termite?) but, yeah, it broke."
After bursting into the room, she found out her son "was fine," though a little "freaked out about the door."
She also noticed his TV volume was "at the max," and found out from him that he didn't answer her when she called to him simply because he didn't want his movie interrupted.
"His words were 'You were screaming like a harpy and it was annoying, I was trying to watch the movie. Fix the door.' I said no. I wasn’t going to fix it since to 'fix it' I would have to buy a new door and doors are expensive. And as soon as his dad got home he would remove the door entirely as it was too broken to just stay there," the woman continued.
The son demanded a new door, telling his mom he had a right to "privacy."
"I said he had a door and while I was the one that broke it, it was a consequence of his actions, so if he wanted a door he would have to buy it (I know he doesn’t have the money for it right now). Until then, no door. He can change in the bathroom. He said f--k you, I said he was grounded," the mom concluded, adding that her husband agreed with the punishment.
Now, after a cooling-off period, she wonders if things escalated too much.
Users were split in the Reddit comments section, with some arguing she should really replace the door and others agreeing with the punishment.
"Definitely replace the door, but the tv has to go. Also, I’m not sure where you live but sometimes places will have like a thrift store that sells housewares including doors, like the Habitat for Humanity Restore. So maybe you could find a door that would not be so expensive," one person wrote.
"A curtain for a few days won't hurt him. Sounds like maybe the kid's attitude is the real issue. But I agree with replacing the door either way," another commented.
"Your son is incredibly disrespectful. If not having a door is a punishment he doesn't like, no door for him then," someone else weighed in.
"She doesn’t have the money for a door. Why should she have to put a strain on the rest of the family to fix her son's mistake. She’s not stopping him from getting a door. He should have to pay for it," another user commented.