Mother charges five-year-old daughter rent to teach her about the real world
Would you make your child pay to live under your roof?
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A mother has sparked a debate among parents by revealing that she charges her five-year-old daughter rent out of her weekly allowance.
Essence Evans, a mother from Georgia, has received widespread attention after writing a post on Facebook about how she parents her daughter.
“Every week she gets $7 [£5} in allowance. 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.
“So I make her give me $5 [£3.60] back,” she wrote.
However, Evans has a hidden agenda, secretly keeping the money to give to her daughter when she grows up.
“Now, what she doesn’t know is the $5 [£3.60] is actually going away in her savings account which I will give back to her when she turns 18,” she explains.
“So if she decides to move out on her own she will have $3,380 [£2,431] to start off.
“This strategy not only prepares your child for the real world. But when they see how much real bills are they will appreciate you for giving them a huge discount.”
Evan’s post has gone viral online, garnering 228,000 reactions and over 300,000 shares.
Many people have praised her innovative idea, with one person commenting on Facebook: “I think this is an awesome way to prepare them!”
However, there are some who disagree with Evans’ point of view.
Someone else expressed the opinion that children shouldn’t have to worry about adult responsibilities, writing: “Let your kid be a kid and enjoy their youth before they have to spend the rest of their life worrying about bills [sic].”
The debate was discussed during a segment on Loose Women, with the panel divided over the topic.
Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha believes charging your child rent is a great lesson to teach at such a young age.
However, Anna Richardson, who appeared as a guest on the show, admitted that she had trouble getting on board with the idea, describing her initial response as “outrage”.
Claer Barrett, personal finance editor for the Financial Times, believes that carefully giving your children pocket money is an effective way to teach them valuable lessons about economics that they can apply to their lives later on as adults.
Whether you agree with Evans’ actions or not, you can’t deny her daughter will probably be very grateful when she receives her payout at 18 years old.
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