Mom Calls Bluff of Teen in Letter That Goes Viral

Fed-up mother decides to treat son like a bad roommate
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 19, 2015 3:30 PM CDT
Mom's Letter Punishing Rebellious Teen Goes Viral
The letter a mother gave to her 13-year-old son outlining his new responsibilities as a roommate.   (Facebook)

"Mama’s done playing games and being a doormat." That was an Australian mother's message to her 13-year-old son when she decided to charge him more than $700 a month for rent, electricity, Internet, and food, Kidspot reports. According to CBS News, it all started when the single-mother's son told her she couldn't control him and bragged, "At least one of us is making money," during a fight over homework. She's unemployed, and the teen apparently makes a small income from his YouTube channel. Deciding her son was acting more like a bad roommate, the woman—going by Estrella Havershim—wrote a letter to him outlining his new bills and shared it on Facebook, where it went viral, Seventeen reports. It's been shared more than 160,000 times as of this story.

In addition to the above bills, the letter and its accompanying Facebook post assigned the teen chores in lieu of a $30 maid's fee and a $3 per day charge for renting his clothes, Kidspot reports. "If you decide you would rather be my child again, instead of a roommate, we can renegotiate terms," the letter concludes. Though she took flak from people calling the letter too harsh, she also drew support from people around the world, with one Facebook comment reading, “Kids these days need a hard lesson so that they become better adults." CBS notes another stated, "We need more parents like you." The tough-love letter apparently worked, with the rebellious teen eventually paying with chores and an apology instead of money. (For parents with bratty kids, there's hope on another front, too.)

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