Hi,
I'm after some advice. My 18 year old daughter finished school last year, and has been working full-time for nearly 12 months. We are very proud of her. She started in a contract position, and applied for and was successful in gaining permanent employment at a higher level. She loves her job, has a lovely boyfriend, wons her own car (she saved half and we paid half when she got her licence) and an active social life.
The problem is she is not meeting her financial or other responsibilities at home.
Financially, we have agreed on $50/week board (less than 10% of her take home pay), to be paid fortnightly when she is paid. Monthly commitments are insurance on our policy for her car of $70, and $125 to pay for the phone plan she selected and we put on our account.
Other responsibilities at home are basically picking up after herself and helping out with the occasional small task when she is home (which isn't often - and that's ok).
None of these commitments are met. This has dragged on for at least 6 months. Everytime we try to address this in a calm and rational manner she flies off the handle and there is World War 3. We normally have a great family relationship, and she has a reputation in our small town for being reliable and respectful.
In desperation we took money out of her account. This did not go down well, as you can imagine and was admittedly not the correct course of action.
My husband and I are really at our wit's end. We really want her to meet her responsibilities, as I think we are not doing her any favours by letting her have a free ride - all kids need to learn financial management. I just can't think of what to do short of kicking her out of home - not something we would ever do.
Has anyone else had this situation? How did you handle it?
... View more