In the days since we first learned that Chelsea Houska is leaving Teen Mom 2, there's been much speculation about why the mother of three chose to walk away from such a lucrative gig.

Insiders have claimed that she wishes to focus on other ventures, or that she can't stand to see husband Cole DeBoer get bullied by fans anymore.

Chelsea has been vague in her comments on the subject, but perhaps the truth has been staring us in the face the entire time.

Houska didn't quit because of her businesses of her husband.

She did it for the same reason she does everything else -- to protect the health and happiness of her children.

Specifically, it's her eldest child, 11-year-old Aubree whom Chelsea is looking out for this time.

In recent weeks, Houska has been accused of exploiting Aubree by featuring her on camera more often than the other Teen Moms kids.

This almost certainly was not Chelsea's idea.

Her life isn't as beset by drama as those of her co-stars, so producers have to find conflict where they can.

In this case, that meant focusing on the stormy relationship between Aubree and her father, Adam Lind.

"Chelsea was becoming more and more concerned about Aubree being on-camera, now that she’s older," a source close to the situation tells UK tabloid The Sun.

"She always knew she would leave the show once Aubree reached a certain age," the insider continued.

"She didn’t want her to go through puberty on-camera and be subjected to hurtful and sometimes creepy comments from viewers."

We'd say this is the sort of thing that we're likely to see more of as the children of the Teen Mom approach their teen years.

But frankly, we're pretty sure Chelsea is the only one who cares enough about her kids to walk away from such a cushy gig.

It seems that of particular concern to Houska were storylines that were edited to make it seem as though Lind and DeBoer were essentially battling for Aubree's affection.

One bizarre storyline showed Cole discovering that Aubree had saved Adam's phone number as "Dad" in her cell phone.

“I was looking to be that contact, but we’ll get there," DeBoer remarked.

The scene led to criticism and allegations of Cole overstepping his bounds as the girl's stepfather.

Still, the insider says it was Aubree whom Chelsea was concerned about, not Cole, who is entirely capable of taking care of himself.

“Chelsea was actually quite shocked when she saw people speculating that the negativity toward Cole had anything to do with that decision," the source said.

"She wants Aubree to go into her teenage years with privacy, and not be on reality TV anymore."

It's undoubtedly a wise decision -- and it's probably one that some of Aubree's castmates should consider for themselves.