Dad Threatens To Kick His Pregnant 20-Year-Old Daughter Out Of The House If She Keeps Her Baby — 'She Isn’t Ready To Be A Parent'
He's caught between the rock of wanting to support his daughter and the hard place of not being able to do so financially.
Antonio Guillem / Shutterstock.com In parenting, some situations seem like a "tough love" approach is the only answer. One father on Reddit found himself in such a dilemma with his daughter, and it's left him feeling like he has no recourse but to take the hardest line possible.
The dad is threatening to kick his pregnant daughter out of the house if she keeps her baby.
The father shared that he has already been facing hardship supporting his 20-year-old daughter for a couple of years now since the death of his wife in 2021.
"I’ve been really struggling staying on top of the bills and barely have been able to keep us afloat," he wrote in his post.
Making things even harder is his daughter's relative lack of contribution to the household. She has trouble holding down a job, so everything financially falls on him. Despite the burden, he said, "She is my daughter so I don’t have the heart to kick her out of my home."
But her Christmas gift seems to have changed all that.
"One of the gifts she got me was a pregnancy test that indicated she was pregnant," he wrote.
The dad is 'panicking' because he cannot afford to support both his daughter and her baby.
"The thought of having to financially support another person while also guaranteeing my daughter won’t be able to get a job got me sick to my stomach," he wrote.
Making matters worse, his daughter isn't positive about who the father of the baby is, meaning there likely won't be any support from the child's other parent.
He was shocked by the fact that his daughter seemed to think he'd be excited about her news despite all these very difficult factors. "I’ve explained to her that if she keeps the baby I am going to have to kick her out of the house," he said.
His daughter was furious, accusing him of forcing her to terminate the pregnancy. He insisted he was doing no such thing and that the choice was hers. "She can keep the baby, she can put it up for adoption, or she can abort," he claimed. "What she can't do is keep the baby and live with me."
But his family doesn't agree with his approach at all. Specifically, his sister "was furious at me and said I should be thrilled to add a member to the family." But for him, it all comes down to one simple fact: "She isn’t ready to be a parent whatsoever and I will not be able to support them."
As tough a dilemma as this is, many people online supported the dad's decision to kick his pregnant daughter out.
Most on Reddit firmly agreed that the dad is doing what's best for both he and his daughter. "She is clearly not ready," one commenter wrote. "The threat of being kicked out could give her the kick she needs to… make something of her life," another added.
Many others wondered if her pregnancy was the result of acting out amid her grief over the recent loss of her mother.
"After my pops passed I went from top university golden child to a full-blown heroin addict for a few years," one commenter wrote. "So I can understand her [promiscuity] and wanting a baby because she's in a [messed] up place." The difference, of course, is that dabbling in drugs is very different than bringing a child into the world.
"Losing a parent as a teenager is life-changing," another person wrote, "but … wanting to keep a baby when you can't even care for yourself ... I don't know what she's thinking."
If she's like most teens who lose a parent, she probably isn't thinking clearly at all. Teens who lose a parent often suffer from an array of damaging impacts, from depression and suicidal ideation to problems with substances and acting out.
It also can be incredibly damaging to a teen's self-esteem and make them withdraw from the people they're close to. Many mental health professionals say the impact is so adverse it should be considered distinct from the issues small children and adults experience when losing a parent.
It's hard to know exactly what to do in this dad's particular situation. Young and teen moms need all the support they can get, especially given the shame and stigma they routinely face, and making her homeless certainly isn't going to help things.
Still, he's absolutely right — she's in no way ready for this, and the child she brings into the world will be the one to suffer most.
Hopefully, this dad can find a way to get through to her while also offering her the support she needs given all she's been through.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.