Mom with 4 adult kids charges eldest three rent while letting youngest live rent-free, asks if she's wrong

Most parents try to look after all of their kids' needs equally. But certain circumstances can make one child feel that their sibling is being favored more than them. This is quite a common theme among siblings who've made different life choices. In one such scenario, a mom's three older kids were mad at her because she charged them rent for living at home while letting the youngest stay at the residence rent-free. However, the mom had a very specific reason for doing so. The woman, u/rentmaster2, took to Reddit to share her story.

"I always told my kids that if they go to college, I'll take care of everything else. I've told them that since they were little kids. Now, I have four kids, three daughters and one son," the mom explained. "The three oldest (the daughters) decided college wasn't for them. I understood, but I told them they couldn't just sit in my house. I made them get jobs and I charge them 200 a month for rent." She added, "They're all doing well, but they all still live in the house. My youngest is eighteen. That's the boy. He graduated three months ago but just got accepted into a college. I did not force him to get a job as I said if they go to school, I'll do everything else. He himself decided he wanted a job."

"He works at FedEx and makes about 300 a week. I don't charge him rent and I'm still gonna try to take care of him until he's done with college," the mom shared. "My daughters are more than mad that he's not paying anything. They believe him having a job means he can pay something." She remarked, "They also believe I shouldn't take care of everything for him if he has a job and he's not paying rent." The post concluded, "I'm not charging him rent because he's going to school. His getting a job changes nothing in my mind. He simply saw this as a golden opportunity and is running with it." The mom wondered if she was doing her daughters wrong by not charging their brother rent. People took to the comments section to express their thoughts on the same.

u/Peony-Pony wrote, "My father told all six of us, if you go to university and stay, I'll pay and help you with expenses. If you drop out and want to go back, it's on your dime. I am the youngest; my brother, closest in age to me, went to university and got our degrees because we watched the other four drop out. Your daughters are jealous. You were fair and offered all your children the same opportunity. Your daughter's didn't take you up on the offer. Let them find a rent with everything included and board for $200 a month if living in your house is a burden."

u/MyHairs0nFire commented, "They all had the same options with the same opportunities and/or consequences that each of those options came with. Your youngest chose the option that afforded more opportunities and few consequences. Your oldest chose the option that afforded more consequences and fewer opportunities. That’s on all of them. They weren’t deceived into their choices. They made them with their eyes wide open and now want to whine about the youngest not facing the same consequences that THEY are for the choices that THEY made. Youngest shouldn’t HAVE to face the consequences of decisions that THEY made. That’s not at all how the world works. It’s extremely immature for them to even suggest that." u/Librarycat7 remarked, "This is about what my parents did, except there was no caveat about when we went."