My son turned 18 in January and just moved in with some chick he met on a roommates app. I texted him about 25 minutes ago after a long day of hesitation asking him why he didn't tell me happy birthday. He used to love that my bday was on valentines day lol. He responded after 10 minutes with "Because I don't like you" That stung because I never even mistreated him. He just didnt like my rules. Yeah I was strict but that's not a reason to straight up wanna cut your parents off. My only rules were no girls/dating until 18, no going out if it's not school or with a chaperone that *I* trust, no social media, I had to have the password to his phone- and that was quite literally it. That's how I was raised and that's how many parents are raising their kids. If he does not want me in his life then I will respect that and back off but that still absolutely hurt.