Parenting requires an unbelievable amount of sacrifice. We willingly give up our sleep, our hot meals, and our sanity on a daily basis just to keep our kids happy and healthy. But there is a massive difference between cutting the crusts off a sandwich and taking a literal vow of silence. One exhausted mother on Reddit recently shared the unimaginable extreme she went to for her teenage daughter. Now she is demanding her basic human rights back and the internet is completely stunned by her reality.
The Original Poster is a forty one year old woman who shares a seventeen year old daughter named Ceci with her husband Ray. For her entire life, Ceci has suffered from a brain based disorder called misophonia. This condition makes people incredibly sensitive to specific everyday sounds. In Ceci’s case, the triggers are chewing, general mouth sounds, and worst of all, people speaking.
Unfortunately, the absolute biggest trigger for this teenager is her own mother’s voice. Ever since Ceci was born, she would have instant, severe meltdowns and aggressive outbursts the second her mom opened her mouth. The family spent years thinking she was on the autism spectrum before a professional finally pointed them toward misophonia. Because the anger was so intense and immediate, the family came up with a coping mechanism that sounds straight out of a psychological thriller.
To keep the peace in her own house, the mother agreed to completely stop speaking in her daughter’s presence. She has literally been a mute in her own home for years. She communicates exclusively using sign language, text messages, text to speech apps, or by using her husband as a human messenger pigeon. She cannot even clear her throat without sparking a massive screaming match. She has to tiptoe around her own property just to make sure her kid does not accidentally hear her from another room.
Ceci eventually stopped going to public school entirely and now takes all her classes online to avoid human noises. While the entire family is in therapy and Ceci is showing some improvement with cognitive behavioral therapy, the mother’s voice remains the ultimate trigger. The poor mom candidly admits that living like a ghost in her own house has been completely awful and created a massive barrier in their relationship.
With Ceci heading into her senior year of high school and officially turning eighteen soon, the parents realized they had created a totally unsustainable bubble. The real world does not care about your misophonia. You cannot walk into a grocery store, a college lecture hall, or a future job interview and demand that everyone communicate with you in total silence. Society is loud and Ceci has to learn how to exist in it.
The parents sat their daughter down and delivered a completely reasonable ultimatum. They gently informed Ceci that once she officially becomes a legal adult next year, her mom is going to start talking again. They gave her a full 365 days of advance notice to mentally prepare and work with her therapist on new coping strategies. Instead of appreciating the massive heads up, Ceci threw a massive fit.
Ceci wants to stay home for college and take online courses, completely expecting her mother to just stay mute forever. In a twist of supreme irony, the teenager is now giving her mother the silent treatment. The mom generously offered to let Ceci live at home completely rent free during college, provided she accepts that human beings make noise.
Of course, the husband is now completely folding under the pressure. Ray thinks they should walk back the boundary and force the mom to stay silent until Ceci eventually finishes college and moves out. Thankfully, the mother is holding her ground. She cares about her kid, but she desperately wants her voice back in the home she pays for.
The internet collectively agreed that this mother is an absolute saint for lasting this long and is definitely not the villain here. You cannot expect a parent to take a lifelong vow of silence just so you can avoid putting on a pair of noise canceling headphones. Ceci has a whole year to buy some AirPods and figure it out. Would you ever stop talking in your own house for your teenager? Let us know in the comments below!
My daughter has this problem, although not to the extreme level this girl does….its an almighty trial….mouth/chewing noises, paper towels agains glass bowls, vibrations of the tv is up past level 12 on volume are just a few…..and she’s really full of anxiety with these issues. I worry because it seems like she’s in pain when it happens. I’m researching. It seems there should be some effective treatment. Hypnosis? Medication? Idk. I just know she’s miserable and it’s unnerving to constantly be on guard….