Mom Gets Mixed Reviews For Charging Young Daughter Rent
A mom in Georgia is charging her five-year-old rent, but I certainly wouldn't make the same move.
Let me start by saying, I DON'T think this mother is wrong, I just wouldn't make the same decision with my daughter.
We all don't parent the same and when one Georgia mom took to Facebook to post about charging her daughter 'rent', the different opinions on her decision started to fly.
Essence Evans from Atlanta posted to say she makes her daughter pay for household expenses out of her allowance.
As the post (that has since been removed) said,
I MAKE MY 5-YEAR-OLD PAY RENT. Every week she gets $7 dollars in allowance,” she wrote. “But I explained to her that in the real world most people spend most of their paycheck on bills with little to spend on themselves.
Basically she takes back a $1 a day of the weekly allowance for food, water, rent, electricity and cable so her daughter can learn the value of money.
She also went on to say that she then takes the $5 'rent' money and deposits it in a savings account for her daughter, so that when she turns 18 she'll have $3,380 to start out with.
Plenty of people praised her move, but I can't say I'm among them.
Though I agree kids should learn the value of money, five just seems way too young for the 'paying rent' thing.
I could see myself making this move with a teenager, but a five-year-old is just a kid...and really should be allowed to just be a kid.
These days it seems like we have so few years of wide-eyed innocence, why be the person introducing your child to the cold, cruel world by taking away 70% of her weekly earnings?
Yes, I want my daughter to understand the value of money and the importance of earning and saving, but I can't imagine starting all that with a kindergartner.
Again, to each her own, if this move works for Essence Evans and her daughter good for them...I just won't be following suit.