16-year-old forced to contribute to household expenses: he hides a salary increase from his parents

by Mark Bennett

December 20, 2021

16-year-old forced to contribute to household expenses: he hides a salary increase from his parents
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Money has always been a source of problems and arguments, both in the family and within a relationship - especially if the matter is not handled with respect and common sense. A young man, 16, wanted to consult the web and the Reddit community to confirm if his parents were exploiting him and if he had done the right thing to hide the fact that he had received a small raise at work. The story he told leaves very little room for dispute: his parents forced him to contribute to the rent and, as if that were not enough, to also purchase other items, such as shoes and clothes for the family. Each month his parents took at least half of his salary. It seems understandable, then, that the boy hid the news of his wage increase from them.

via Reddit

Pexels / Not the actual photo

Pexels / Not the actual photo

It is understandable that a young person wants to save up some money by finding a part-time job. But perhaps it is a little less reasonable to force him to contribute to the expenses as if he were a responsible adult. The young man said he has a rather large family: he has five younger siblings, and often his parents made him pay for their clothes and shoes. More than half of the young man's salary was "confiscated". When he received a small raise at work - which gave him $ 5 more per hour - he decided to hide this fact from his family. While it had been almost impossible to save before, he could now save around $ 600 a month. Not bad for a guy who studies, goes to school every day and who works 20 hours a week in his free time.

"My pay went from $ 8 an hour to $ 13 an hour. I was so excited, but I knew my parents would start charging me more, so I hid it," he said. He succeeded in keeping this fact hidden for 4-5 months before being discovered by his mother.

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Pexels / Not the actual photo

Pexels / Not the actual photo

"The other day my mom found my savings and my parents asked me for an explanation. They realized that that my savings were too high and forced me to show them my paycheck from the previous week. To punish me for lying, they took $ 3,000 of the $ 4,000 that I was able to save up" wrote the disappointed boy, who now wondered whether or not he had done the right thing to hide the money from his parents. It goes without saying that the Reddit community has expressed strong solidarity with the boy, advising him on the precautions that he should take in the future to protect his earnings.

The young man did, however, provide some updates regarding the story: "I was talking to my cousins ​​about the situation and apparently one of them told my grandparents who, surprisingly, contacted my parents and talked to them. I don't know what my grandfather said exactly, but I was in my room studying and all of a sudden my mother came in, put the money on the table and told me not to keep secrets anymore and then left. I counted the money and it was the full $ 3,000."

Fortunately, in the end, the parents seem to have understood their son's needs and appear to have realized that their behavior was not appropriate.

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