California mother started charging her unemployed daughter $300 rent after graduation and took her bedroom too. Then she asked if she went too far

A mother in California has sparked debate online after sharing a video explaining that she began charging her daughter $300 a month in rent shortly after the teenager graduated from high school.

The daughter, who has not yet found a job, is reportedly set to start college in the fall. The video, posted by the account @monreal805 on TikTok under the name J&K Family Story, has since drawn over 611,500 views.

In the TikTok video, the mother opens by asking viewers directly, “So am I in the wrong?” She goes on to explain that she told her daughter she would need to start contributing $300 a month toward rent and utilities if she continued living at home. The mother said her daughter is expected to begin college in the coming months, but that living at home would still come with financial responsibilities.

The daughter has not yet secured employment, according to the mother. As a result, the mother said she is no longer covering her daughter’s food or gas. She also said she has started keeping a running tab of what her daughter owes her, which currently stands at $330, made up of $300 in monthly rent and a $30 gas loan.

Mother says she expects daughter to use financial aid or student loans to pay her back

The mother said that when her daughter asked to borrow money for gas, she agreed but told her, “I will add it to the back of her tab.” She indicated she plans to keep adding to the total until her daughter pays the full amount once she receives a paycheck. The mother said she told her daughter to “get out there applying jobs.”

The mother also said she expects her daughter to use money from financial aid or student loans to cover what she owes. “When she gets her student money for school, her financial aid, or her student loan, that she has to take out a student loan, I expect her pay her portion with some of that,” the mother said in the video. An on-screen text overlay in the video read: “Daughter graduated / she needs to pay rent, or use a student loan if she doesn’t find a job.”

Beyond the financial arrangement, the mother also said she has taken away her daughter’s bedroom. The daughter is now sleeping on the couch, according to the mother. Towards the end of the video, the mother said, “I don’t really know what to do. I don’t know if I should put her out,” adding, “I’ve already taken her room away, so she now sleeps on the couch. But I mean, what else can you do at this point?”

Reactions in the TikTok comments section were mixed. Some viewers sided with the mother, with one commenter writing, “You are not wrong you are teaching her responsibility and to be independent.” Others pushed back strongly. Strained mother-daughter relationships have previously gone viral on social media, such as a case where a woman went no contact with her abusive mother after their situation escalated. 

One commenter wrote, “She should be living bill free if she’s continuing her education. She isn’t your roommate. She is your child!” Another said, “You are absolutely wrong. Nothing changed the day after high school graduation!” One viewer noted, “$300 to sleep on a couch. No contact is coming soon.”

The video was also shared on the Reddit community r/TikTokCringe, where a user named KSHMisc posted it with their own commentary. The Reddit user said they personally would “cut them some slack” if their child was actively job searching and already enrolled in school for the fall. 

They also raised concerns about the mother’s expectation that her daughter use financial aid or student loans to pay rent, writing that this was “a HUGE NO” given that loan amounts are tied to parental income and that federal student loan rules are changing following the passage of what they referred to as the OBBB Act. Reddit commenters were largely critical of the mother’s approach, with one writing, “Enjoy the nursing home with no visitors.”

The mother did not appear to identify herself by name in the video, and it is unclear from the available information whether the daughter has since responded publicly or found employment.

This isn’t the first time a mother’s parenting decisions have drawn widespread criticism online; in a separate case, a mom faced backlash for sending her daughter to grandparents for six weeks and was labeled a bad mother by many viewers.