College Student Cuts Off Her Parents Via Text Message After Turning 18 — And Even Her Own Dad Isn’t Surprised

In a Reddit post, the aunt of a college student said she couldn't help but laugh at her older sister’s recent family drama — despite understanding how it came about.

After her 18-year-old niece went to college, she cut off her parents, claiming they failed to support, love, and genuinely care for her outside of financial needs.

A woman laughed at her sister after her 18-year-old daughter ‘cut her off’ after starting college — ‘Nobody is surprised.’

“My sister has never been a prize parent,” the woman wrote in her post. “She married rich and had a baby because that’s what she was ‘supposed’ to do. Truthfully, she never looked after her own daughter for a single day.”

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From hiring nannies to pawning her off on family members and hyper-focusing on material items for her daughter’s enjoyment, they never bonded throughout her childhood. Now that their daughter, this Reddit woman’s niece, was preparing for college — it wasn’t a shock when she made the decision to “cut them off.”

“She got her inheritance money from her grandpa and is set to start college this year,” she wrote. “My dad drove her up to her college dorm … As soon as she got there, she sent her parents a text informing them that she was … no longer [interested] in contacting them.”

Never prioritizing bonding or getting to know her daughter, their relationship was only money-focused.

While families without money stress and financial struggles tend to have more space for relationships to bloom and bonding experiences to be made, this 18-year-old's life was quite the opposite. Yes, she had all the material things she needed — including a fully funded college education — but she never had a strong relationship with her parents.

Navigating adolescence with an emotionally absent parent, no matter what your family’s financial situation looks like, isn’t easy and can negatively impact children into adulthood. 

In fact, a study from 2022 revealed that children of an absent parent often develop attention-seeking traits in adulthood, especially if they’re forced to maintain constant contact with that parent.

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“We all knew her daughter wouldn’t have any semblance of a relationship with her,” the sister continued. “As she got older, my sister would talk to her, but never about things she liked … She’d book a trip to Disney for her birthday. My niece has been terrified of theme parks since she was small.”

After decades of feeling unheard and unsupportive, cutting off contact with her parents was the beginning of her own life — where she could cultivate new, healthier relationships with people dedicated to her identity. While it might not make sense to her mother, she gets to make that decision.

“No one is surprised, not even her dad. No one besides my sister,” she wrote. “She’s been complaining since it happened … When she finally approached me and explained her feelings, I laughed at her. I’m, in fact, incredibly happy for my niece.”

Her story is a humbling reminder that transactional relationships are often toxic.

“She went and complained to our mom, who is potentially the only one on her side. She called me immature and said it was the wrong thing to do … Do I need to apologize?”

As estranged adult children often admit, like a woman named Sarah on TikTok, there’s a big difference between having a healthy relationship with your parents and having a transactional one. 

Transactional relationships often revolve around just that: transactions. Whether it’s materialistic rewards or negative reinforcement, these relationships are founded on a lack of understanding and misguided authority.

So, while this Reddit woman might’ve been brutally honest with her sister, she’s likely not wrong in acknowledging her emotional failings as a parent.

This young woman was never given opportunities to bond with her mother and their relationship as she enters adulthood is severely lacking.

One commenter put it succinctly. “You get from your kids what you put in. Just because she gave birth to her doesn’t mean her daughter owes her anything.”

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Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories