«No, Mom. I’m not going to be your free chauffeur.»

Many children do not find it necessary to set firm boundaries with their parents once they become grown adults, and that is a mistake that everyone else should learn from.

Parents, as it turns out, forget that when their children are all grown up, that they’re children are, well, grown-ups. No matter how old their children are, they still see the same baby they held in the hospital, or the toddler they taught how to walk. As a direct result, parents look at all these boundaries they should abide by, and they toss them aside. Why should they adhere to boundaries with the person they raise? Why should they put distance between themselves and their own children? It makes no sense, right?

Wrong. Every child needs a boundary, especially as they become their own adults and want to be set apart from their parents as they build their own lives. That is why many young adults move away to a college across the country, and why they never go back to live in the same town or city as their parents: They want, or more specifically, need, the space.

The boundaries the daughter below needs to set with her mom are a result of Mom acting like her daughter owes her something. This mom believes that her daughter should do whatever she asks of her, even though the requests are often extremely inconvenient or downright improbable, like driving around town for hours just so her mom won’t have to pay for a short Uber drive.