I make my teenagers buy their own food and my daughter hates me for it – but I’m tired of having to spend money on them

BEING a parent comes with many responsibilities – from financially supporting your children to helping them become the best humans they can be.

But this mom has decided she doesn’t want to pay for her teenagers’ meals now that they have jobs.

3

The mom, who wanted to remain anonymous, ranted about her situation with her daughter now that she is making her kids pay for their own food.

She said in a Reddit post: “I have three teenagers: a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old boy. They eat like a plague of locusts.

“Any time there is a treat food they are right onto it, I try to hide it sometimes but when my partner and I try to have something nice after dinner they hear the wrapper and are right onto it.

“I used to buy snacks for them, but it cost a fortune and would only last a day or two, not the whole week, and forget about anything a bit nicer or more expensive for us.

“All of my kids have casual jobs and earn at least $150 per week. We have instituted a rule that they buy their own junk food.

“My boys are happy with this arrangement. They keep the snacks in a sealed tub in their rooms (we don’t want mice) and label their drinks in the fridge.

“For four of us, the arrangement is working well and the boys have discovered just how much all this crap costs.”

However, this arrangement doesn’t sit well with the woman’s daughter, who stands by the idea that their mother needs to feed them.

She continued: “My daughter keeps ranting at me that it’s our job to feed them, why does she have to pay for all her own food and I just want her to starve.

“I have a pantry and fridge full of breakfast (sugary cereal like coco pos is considered junk and I expect them to buy it, I have cornflakes and muesli for them), and lunch foods and they get a healthy tea each evening, the pantry is full of ingredients if they want to bake, with the understanding that whatever they make is for the household.

“My daughter thinks I’m the a**hole, her friends and my mom agree with her but other parents wish they had thought of it.”

Despite the daughter claiming it’s her mom’s responsibility to financially support her, many agree that she’s doing the right thing.

One person wrote: “Your daughter is simply pissed that you’re not buying the junk anymore.

“But she is delusional (as many teens are) in thinking that you have some obligation or legal duty to provide her with junk food. As long as she is getting a meal, you are doing your job.”

And second person added: “I think it’s actually really healthy for teenagers to start paying for ‘extras’ (junk food is absolutely an extra). It gives them a healthy understanding of cost and responsibility with money.

“It’s important to teach teenagers health spending habits and understanding cost of extras on their income.”

What do you think? Should this mom continue paying for her kids’ junk food?

3