Mum who takes 17-year-old’s phone away wonders if she’s ‘too strict’

A mum who confiscates her 17-year-old daughter's phone at 9.30pm every night has asked if she is "too strict" a parent.

The woman said that she has taken her daughter's phone away at the same time for many years, but that it has caused the 17-year-old's attitude to "worsen." The unknown mum took to parenting website Mumsnet to lodge her query. She wrote:

"For the past few years I've taken all electronic devices off my 17 year old daughter at 9:30pm and her WiFi goes off completely at 9:30pm. "This is the same for weekends and during the holidays. This results in constant arguments and her attitude has worsened including her swearing and arguing with me and being very reluctant to give her phone over. "Am I being too strict?"

While many were sympathetic to the woman's situation, the majority of users did agree that the mum was being too harsh on her daughter. "Honestly I can see you're trying to help her but you are driving her away," wrote one user. "She doesn't tell you anything I can promise you that. In a year she is legally an adult. You need to remember that." They went on:

"I'm assuming you want a good relationship with your children and you don't want them to go AWOL for months when they finally get some freedom from their overbearing mum. "Her friends are probably taking the piss out of her. You are being ridiculous."

"So you are effectively treating her as a 12-year-old? That's not right," said another person. The mum went on to say that she made the decision to take her daughter's phone away and switch off the WiFi because she was getting "too drunk" when she went out. She also admitted that she had banned her daughter from going out on New Year's Eve. So, what do you think? Too much or necessary?