Recently a mom revealed that she made her teenage daughter sign a contract that she would pay her rent if she wanted to continue living in her house.
The Oklahoma mom of six posted a video on her TikTok account where she showed her daughter, Jada, signing a lease agreement stating that she would pay a monthly amount of 100 dollars to live in the house owned by her mother.
The unnamed mom captioned her video, “When your 18-year-old decides to stay at home.”
She also used several hashtags like “#leaseagreement”, “#setupforsuccess”, “#stayinhome“, and “#myhousemyrules”.
The video became viral and received two million views and thousands of comments. Many people criticized her for being selfish and insensitive towards her 18-year-old daughter.
“My parents did this, and we no longer talk! So good luck, I guess.”
“Setting her up for success,” bro, you’re setting her up to never speak to you again.”
“I could understand after college or something but fresh out of high school, and I would just leave and never talk to my mom again.”
“My mom started making me pay to rent the second I turned 18. I always said I would never do that to my kids. Not cool.”
“Setting her up to be in debt before ever leaving your home. Way to go!”
After receiving tones of negative comments on her video, the mother posted another video and explained the reason behind her move.
“My parents did not set me up for success, so I had to fight for every single thing that I have. And I don’t want my children to have to do that. So everything that I do prepares them for the real world.”
She also said that to rent a house in their area, one needs to provide “renter history” to make a good legal deal. So, her actions will help Jada in the future when she moves out of her parent’s house.
“First thing is, when you move out in our area, you have to have some sort of renter history showing that you can pay bills on time and that you’re a good renter […] so I did make a legal lease agreement with my daughter.”
“And that’s the only bill [Jada] pays.” She continued. “No car payment, no insurance, no cellphone bill. Her cash is spent mostly on the utilities, room, food, and everything else.”
Even after her explanation in her follow-up video, most people didn’t agree with her logic and said she did the wrong thing.
“Girl no! Is so wrong, you should talk to your teen daughter and explain you save money, think about how she is gonna feel to have to work and pay rent.”
“I’m this economy it would be hard for her to move out” so then why take money from her? Have her pay for her phone and car insurance if you wanna…”
“What about taking those $100 and save it for when she moves out she has funds to pay all those fees that come with renting.”
What are your thoughts on this mother’s actions? Let us know in the comments.
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My Mom said rent or a mortgage is a fact of life and started charging me when I left school. I became a responsible, financially stable adult as did my 4 siblings. It’s not selfish-it’s love.
Teaching your child responsibilities at a young age I don’t see anything wrong in that, as soon as we started working at a young age we had to contribute at home..
Today I have a successful business and no debts.
I’m grateful for my parents for doing that.
That’s too young to start charging rent..Plus she said she has UTILITY BILLS as well!
*If anything, have her go on to complete a higher education, while working a part time job
IN THE INTERIM
you can take 20% of her paychecks ***to INVEST for her
THEN
match what she was able to save to give her a good “headsets” towards independence!!
“HEADSTART”
OOPS!
I think it’s a great idea. I don’t see anything wrong with teaching your kids.. these are things our schools aren’t teaching. How to save money. Work hard for what you need and want.. she’ll have a great reference for her new apartment..
So have her pay $100 a month. Put it on what ever is needed Or save it for her later.. I believe your doing the right thing. Also this family is very lucky to have a roof over there head and food on the table. People criticize, but alot of kids and adults had to move home. They put money together to do what you can to live. Maybe some parents have the money to help their child out. Alot of us don’t have a choice..
I agree with this mother 100%.
I paid rent to my parents, and when I was able to find my own apartment….I got all the rent money back. They had placed it in an envelope to save so I could have it to use as needed to set my new place up. This may feel wrong to most people, but this mom really is helping her daughter with something that she’ll be facing when she moves out. I was lucky, I had a class in senior year called Singles Survival that taught things like budgeting, checking and savings accounts, doing a simple tax return, cooking, laundry, etc. All the things that an 18 year old doesn’t always think about. This isn’t being mean, this is teaching her things that most parents don’t teach their newly legally adult child.
Let me start by saying no rental agreement by your mom is ever going to work. Future landlords are going to look at that as a joke. I totally agree with teaching her lessons, but have her pay her car insurance and cellphone. You say your parents didn’t set you up for success, well don’t take that out on your kids. She has plenty of time to pay rent and be an adult. If she’s still there a year, then have her pay rent. Give her a chance. My older 2 kids will not talk to me over an issue very similar to yours and I have grandkids I don’t see because of it and it’s been over 10 years. Think about that.
There’s nothing wrong with that if she has her own room. My daughter started helping paying bills & wanting to get on my apartment lease for her future. She got her first job at 17.