My dad took my door off- help please?
Hey everyone, I just really need to vent and honestly get some advice on how to handle this. Yesterday, my dad took my bedroom door completely off the hinges.
To give some context, I do lock my door in the morning because I hate getting up, and I stay up at night, and he actually threatened to take the door away before this. But yesterday he finally did it because he’s frustrated with my morning routine and wants to force me to get up on time. I understand he’s trying to enforce a rule, but this feels completely extreme and is honestly not an effective punishment at all.
I’m 17 (turning 18 in 9 months) and a teenage girl. To me, a door isn't a privilege, it’s a basic necessity for privacy and dignity. I have a 2-year-old brother who wanders around, and without a door, I have zero privacy to change clothes, get ready after a shower, or just have a safe space to be alone. My mom ended up hanging a blanket over the doorway as a temporary fix so I’m not completely exposed to the hallway, but it doesn't stop anyone from walking in, and it's honestly low-key embarrassing.
The door is currently sitting in my closet (it was in our garage but I took it and put it in my closet ✨) but the screws are missing so I can't even try to put it back on myself right now.
I already tried to handle this maturely. I wrote him a letter and put it on his desk, but I don't even know if he took the time to read it. Here is what I wrote him:
Dear Dad, I’m writing this because I want to talk about what happened with my bedroom door. I know you took it down because you’re frustrated with my morning routine and want me to get up on time. I understand that you are trying to enforce a rule, but I need to explain how deeply this actually affects me. At 17—and keep in mind I'll be 18 in just nine months!—having a bedroom door isn’t a luxury, a decoration, or a special privilege; it is a basic necessity for my privacy and dignity. I think you might view my room as just another room in the house that I happen to use, but to me, it is a lot more than that. It is my own personal space, and it's the only room in the entire house where I can truly be alone. As a teenage girl who is almost a legal adult, I need that private space where I can change my clothes, get ready after a shower, and just have basic personal modesty. The Bible says modesty is important, right? Not just when it comes to how we dress in public, but also at home as well. To be completely honest, it's rather inappropriate for me to not have a door. Living without that visual boundary makes me feel exposed, stressed, and constantly on edge in the one place I am supposed to feel safe. Taking my door away doesn't make me more motivated to get up early. Instead, it does the opposite. Verses like Colossians 3:21 and Ephesians 6:4 remind fathers not to treat their children in ways that provoke them to anger or cause deep discouragement and resentment. Right now, this situation is causing a lot of that heavy frustration, which I really don't want to have toward you. I want us to have a relationship built on mutual trust and biblical respect, rather than one where my basic privacy is taken away.
Has anyone else dealt with a parent doing this? How did you handle it, and did anything actually work to get your privacy back?