Abby Connolly
I’ve always felt bad for kids whose parents expected them to pay them rent for living at home even though they had hardly started their adult life. To be in your 30s and still living with your parents for free is one thing, but it’s another to be only 18 and expect to pay rent at home.
One woman recently told her widowed mom that she’d have to pay rent if she wanted to move in with her because that’s what her parents made her do once she turned 18.
She’s 46 and had a rough relationship with her parents when she became a teenager. She is the youngest of five siblings and was treated very differently from them by her parents.
For instance, although her four older siblings, who had moved out of the house by the time she was a senior in high school, received help paying their college tuition, her parents refused to help her.
When she turned 18, things got worse.
“I turned 18 right before my second semester of the school year, and right after my birthday, my parents told me they expected me to pay for my own rent and utilities,” she said.
“I was confused because they had not done this to my siblings, and I asked them to reconsider as I was saving for college and moving out. However, my parents would not budge and told me if I refused, I was going to have to find somewhere else to live.”
She continued to live with her parents for a while, giving them money for rent and utilities while she lived at home. However, instead of actually putting her hard-earned money toward the bills, her parents would use it for their own benefit, like dinner dates and trips without her.
She not only had to pay rent and utilities but also had to buy her own food and cook her meals since her parents wouldn’t do that for her either. When it was finally time for her to move out for school, she did and moved into a dorm. She hasn’t lived with her parents since then.
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