The letter that probably made this 13-year-old rethink his request for independence.

A single mother in the United States has sent her son an itemised bill after she decided the teenager needed a little lesson in independence.

Estella Havisham’s 13-year-old son Aaron — who makes money from YouTube videos — had been acting like your standard teenager by talking back to his mother and refusing to help around the house.

But Havisham had had enough and sent him a letter, saying that if he wanted to treat his mother like a roommate, she would charge him for the privilege.

“The child is going to have a rude awakening today after the words he exchanged with me last night. Not only will be find this on the door, but his mattress stripped, and the toys and clothes that I bought confiscated. He will have three options.. Buy his own, rent his clothes at $3 a day, or renegotiate his terms of being a child. Mama’s done playing games and being a doormat.” She wrote when posting the letter to Facebook.

The letter has been shared more than 162,000 times on Facebook and Havisham says that she didn’t expect the post to go viral.

“It was an accident. I meant to post to just family and friends; and yesterday I couldn’t figure out why I had over 100 friend request[s],” she wrote in a follow up post.

Despite some criticism, Havisham — who has since changed her name on Facebook — has clearly struck parenting gold and says that while her son didn’t respond well to the letter at first, his behaviour is improving and the letter hasn’t hurt their relationship.