Woman Unsure If She’s Being ‘Unreasonable’ to Be ‘Annoyed’ That Her 21-Year-Old Daughter Stayed Out Late with Friends

A mom says she’s feeling uneasy — and more than a little annoyed — after her adult daughter stayed out late with friends.

The woman shared her story on Mumsnet.com, a U.K.-based community forum where women often ask other users for advice. In her post, titled “Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed with my 21-year-old?”, she explained that her daughter currently lives at home.

The mom said her daughter left that morning to meet friends about “60 miles” away, despite having had only “a few hours sleep” after a late work shift the night before.

By 3:30 a.m., she still wasn’t home, the mom wrote.

According to the post, the daughter said she was “sitting in her car” talking with friends and insisted she’d be “fine” to drive back because she’d had an energy drink.

“I think it’s irresponsible, to be honest, and I know she’s 21, but I’ve had trouble getting to sleep over it from worry,” the mom admitted. “She has a 1.5-hour drive home … on no sleep?”

She also said she could tell her daughter hadn’t started the drive home yet based on her phone’s location.

In the comments, most people urged the mom to take a step back.

“She’s an adult. It’s really none of your business [where she is]. When are you going to turn off the tracking? When she’s 25? 30?” one commenter wrote.

The same person added that from an outside perspective, the situation looked like unnecessary stress — and suggested the mom focus on trusting the young woman she raised to manage her own choices.

Another commenter pointed out that parents didn’t always have tracking tools and suggested that, in some ways, it may have been healthier.

“I think you may need to try and relax. And definitely don’t get annoyed with her. Days before phone trackers/[the app] Find My Phone, my parents would have no idea where I was all weekend,” they wrote.