A mother has sparked a heated debate after asking fellow parents if she was right for thinking her son should pay rent to continue living in her house.
As the mom-in-question revealed, her 18-year-old son has a paying job and wants to be treated like an adult. Therefore, she and her husband decided it was time for the boy to start paying rent to help them out with their financial struggles.
“My 18 year old son finished college this year and is now working at a local hotel. It was a part time job but is now supposed to be full time as he won’t be going to higher education – so this is it, he’s now in the workforce and is an adult,” the mom wrote in her viral Mumsnet post.
“At home there is myself, my husband and a 16 year old in further education and we are finding money is really tight at the moment.”
Asking people for advice, she continued: “At what point do we stop paying for our son? I don’t mean food and household stuff, I mean his haircuts, clothes, prescriptions etc? He is working and wants to be treated as an adult, I think he should pay for anything that’s for him.”
The mom went on to explain that she and her husband had already stopped paying for their son’s gym and rugby membership and canceled his Disney+ and Netflix subscription.
She also revealed they already told him he will have to start contributing to the household financially because they “aren’t rolling in money” and because he should be treated as an adult in all regards.
“Am I being unreasonable for asking for a contribution to board now he’s working and left education?” the mother asked.
“How much would people suggest we ask for? When should we stop paying for all the stuff that’s just for him likes clothes etc? Obviously we will still feed him!
“I would really love to just keep supporting him but it’s a struggle. Thanks for taking the time to read.”
After the mother’s post went viral, fellow parents were left divided with some slamming the mom for wanting her teenage son to pay rent and others defending the parents for trying to make a responsible adult out of their son.
“If you don’t start making him pay now he never will. He absolutely now should be paying for clothes/personal items and making a contribution towards living expenses,” one mom wrote.
“He’s never going to learn how to budget/save/live independently if he doesn’t do it now so you’d be doing him a huge disservice by allowing this to continue now he is working full time. I think you need to sit down with him and go through the costs of renting a room in the area/cost of living bills etc.”
“I would say that 18 is very young to be contributing to the household these days, it may be that he’s the only one of his friends that will be doing it, so gradual mutual arrangement will probably be best if you want to avoid resentment on either side,” another argued.
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