My 17-year-old daughter—the youngest, and we had her when we were older—is 7 weeks pregnant and will turn 18 before giving birth. She is not in a relationship with the father, who, I cannot emphasize enough, does not want a child. To be honest, I doubt he’ll attend the delivery or any other associated commitments. Despite the counsel of almost every adult in her life, she has opted to proceed with the pregnancy.

After she insisted on not just prolonging the pregnancy but also rearing the baby, I inquired about her intentions for dealing with the circumstance. This is roughly what we discussed: She stated, “I will get a job.” Me: Who will take care of the baby while you work? Her: I believed you and Dad could accomplish it. Me: Definitely not. I’m not having another child.

Essentially, it was an exchange of ideas that led me to believe that if she had this kid in our house, I would almost become its mother. I just retired, and my spouse will retire in exactly 11 months, therefore I don’t want to spend my retirement years like this. It’s unfair to us.

I told my daughter that she has until the baby is born to locate another place to live. My husband has always been very forgiving of her—which is normally beautiful; I adore how much he loves our children—so he disagrees with me, but I believe we need to work together on this.