A mom reveals an arrangement to give her teen son his own room, but he has to pay for it.
It's common for young adults to eventually move out of their parents' homes, but when they stay, things can get complicated. A mom of five, u/Maleficent_Trick_489, turned to Reddit to ask if she was right to charge her eldest son rent to stay in his room. She explained in her post that she has four sons, aged 16, 14, 10, and 7, along with a 9-year-old daughter. The family rents a three-bedroom house, where the two oldest boys share one room, the three younger kids share another, and the mom takes the smallest room. However, her oldest son recently began complaining about sharing his space with his younger brother.
Her eldest son began working summer jobs at 14 and was earning even more by the time he turned 16. While he spent most of his money on video games, clothes, and junk food, he still managed to save some. "Two months ago, my son and I talked about his frustration with sharing a room, and he said he’d even drop out of school if it meant he could move into his own space. I told him I had looked at four-bedroom rentals, but they were too expensive. He offered to pay the difference, but I told him no—during the school year, all his money would go to rent instead of savings or spending," she wrote.
"We did come up with a compromise. For $50 a month he could have my bedroom and my 10-year-old could move in with my 14-year-old and I would sleep in our living room. This was 2 months ago, and we already made the switch and everybody is happy with the new setup. All the money my son is paying me is going straight into my Christmas savings and then after Christmas will go into a summer trip savings," the mom clarified. However, when she shared this arrangement with some of her friends, they expressed their concerns about it and told the mom that she was going to regret it.
Her friends told her that she should have given the room away for free without charging her son rent. "My 14-year-old son is also unhappy about the arrangement, he thinks it is unfair older brother is getting his own room and that his middle brother should have stayed in his old room. I can see how he feels it's unfair that his older brother has the chance to pay for his room when he doesn’t have the same opportunity," the mom concluded her post, asking for advice from the Reddit community on this matter. The Reddit community was left divided over this arrangement between the mother and his son but some supported her decision as well.
u/hanimal16 wrote, "Mom took the pull-out sofa so son could have his room, that’s pretty good parenting. I would’ve been made to sleep on the sofa." u/Antique_Economist_84 pointed out, "Why isn’t your only daughter getting a room to herself as well? Why can't all 3 boys be in a room together? I find it weird you have 2 almost tween children of the opposite sex in the same room together alone." u/ComfortableOrder4266 added, "The fact he has to work for anything extra from such a young age is enough. He is already paying for his parent's mistakes. He’s already losing precious hours when he could be instead studying, spending time with friends, extracurriculars. This is impacting his life."