‘Toughest for me’: Father reveals strict stance for daughter while sending her to hostel; LinkedIn reacts

Rohit Gupta, Co-Founder and COO of CollegeVidya.com, shared an emotional post on LinkedIn. He revealed that he would not speak to his daughter for a couple of weeks. Here’s why.Gupta anticipated criticism and addressed it directly. He asked readers to hear him out first. Last week, he dropped his daughter off at a boarding school.Alongside the LinkedIn post, an image showed his daughter smiling. She stood outside a building with her luggage. She wore a black jersey and white trousers.She flashed a peace sign towards the camera confidently. A large grey suitcase stood beside her, tagged.He knew what emotional impact this would have. So, the day before, he took her out. They watched the new Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, together.Afterwards, Gupta returned home and made an announcement. He told his family he would not call her. This decision would hold for 15 days straight.The response at home was far from positive. Nobody supported his decision. His family initially revolted against the arrangement.Despite this, Gupta explained his reasoning further. He had lived through boarding school himself. He understood the process firsthand.“Every call from home will pull her back one step. She has to make her own friends there. Her own routine. And her own small world,” he wrote on LinkedIn.“If I keep calling her, she will keep wanting to come back. As a father, the next fifteen days are going to be the toughest for me. But this is for her future,” he added.He reflected on lessons learned through his own upbringing. He admitted to learning this lesson the wrong way round.“Being there for the people who matter is easy. Staying away and letting them stand is the hard part. Nobody claps for that one,” he wrote.Gupta ended his post with a reflective question. He asked readers about their own parents' decisions.“Tell me one thing your parents did that you hated then and are thankful for now,” he asked.Social media reactsThe post has resonated with many parents online. Even those who are not parents reacted to it.“My mother stopped talking to me for three months after I quit my civil engineering job. She spoke again the day I got into St. Xavier's, Mumbai. Those three months were her way of wanting the best for me. I just could not read it at the time,” wrote one social media user.“My parents didn't give in to buying me everything I fancied, even when it was totally affordable. I'm doing the same with my kids now, and I'm so thankful they instilled that mindset in me,” commented another user.One user replied, “One thing I would definitely thank my parents for is that they only gave us what was needed, like really needed - there was always a limit. I used to hate it back then (okay, I do hate it now on days) because it somehow forced me also to think small & mediocre.”“But, on days when I have only two cents left in your pockets, that same habit makes me humble, cut down on my extra things and be okay with that. just okay and survive enough until you make it back,” the user added.“My mother used to teach me and thrash me black and blue for not understanding the concepts in mathematics. That time I used to feel very bad, but lately, when I entered my profession, I understood that those thrashings were blessings in disguise for me that taught me to remain calm under heavy pressure, have patience in life and try things again and again once they fail,” came from another.About the AuthorSounak MukhopadhyaySounak Mukhopadhyay covers trending news, sports and entertainment for LiveMint. His reporting focuses on fast-moving stories, box office performance, digital culture and major cricket developments. He combines real-time updates with clear context for everyday readers. Sounak brings newsroom experience across breaking news, explainers and long-form features. He has a strong emphasis on accuracy, verification and responsible storytelling. His work tracks audience behaviour, celebrity influence and the business of sport and cinema. He hel