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18 y/o son disputes having to pay keep

289 replies

missmatch23 · 18/09/2023 15:09

I posted recently about my 18 y/o DS behaviour. The time has come where I have asked him to pay keep, simply as the winter months are coming and he has been asked to contribute £20 p/w towards gas or electric. To say he is besides himself at this prospect, is an understatement!

I'm a single mum of two. Both DC are here full time, I have No maintenance payments and work full time. I am just returning to work after being off with quite severe depression. DS is currently on a gap year, stays in bed most days till midday, and won't work more than 16 hours a week. I have told him he should be looking for more hours in work, or get a new job, as opposed to spending this so called gap year in bed or hanging around coffee shops and nights out. He wants to go travelling but seems to be expecting me to foot the bill for most of this, as well as live at home rent free and chore free.

Yesterday, I informed him he would need to start contributing and was met with a face like a smacked arse! He yet again mumbles something and flounced out of the room. His attitude is that I should have been doing absolutely everything at home for the three months I was off work with server anxiety and depression, that I just couldn't battle anymore. I have been highly medicated and have no support network, so the past few months have been rather difficult. During this time he has basically refused and refrained from doing anything at all at home, because it seems I should do it all seems how I've been off work. In honesty, I have been hurt by this.

AIBU for expecting a young man to contribute £80 a month towards our home during winter months, and expect him to work more to put towards his goal of travelling, as opposed to me paying for everything. I know he's my son and will need money for university when he goes next year, but I feel if he's going to squander his money, and refuse to work more as he should be, he should at least have the decency to help out a little at home.

OP posts:
IncompleteSenten · 18/09/2023 15:26

Tell him he's welcome to see if he can rent a flat and pay his bills and feed himself on less than £20 a week.

Gymmum82 · 18/09/2023 15:24

He pays you or moves out and pays market rent. It’s that simple. He sounds entitled and lazy. Time to nip that in the bud

LakeTiticaca · 18/09/2023 15:24

Change the WiFi password
Padlock the food cupboards and the fridge. Disable the heating in his room.
He'll get the message eventually

vodkaredbullgirl · 18/09/2023 15:23

Op ignore the other poster. Sometimes you got to do, what you got to do.

missmatch23 · 18/09/2023 15:21

@TheBarbieEffect I think it's awful to assume he hasn't been encouraged to do so. He is now an adult, who cannot physically be forced to do anything he chooses not to.

OP posts:
Fidgety31 · 18/09/2023 15:20

Norhing is free so he should be paying - and more than that ! He wouldn’t get a room in a shared house for £20

my son lives at home and pays a lot more than your son . I am also a working single parent so can to afford to keep him for free !

vodkaredbullgirl · 18/09/2023 15:20

Can I come and live with you, for that amount 😁

Thebigblueballoon · 18/09/2023 15:19

He’s in for a nasty shock when he moves out, isn’t he?

What a CF quibbling over a 20 quid a week payment. Totally reasonable to request such a token amount towards bills.

missmatch23 · 18/09/2023 15:19

I absolutely don't! And it's hard for me to see him behaving like this, because I have always been so independent. He hasn't been brought up in an environment where hard work has been a nonexistent thing.

When he was younger my parents used to babysit while I worked; although I'm lucky to have had them, they never helped with discipline because they always went against everything I said. I feel this has encouraged a superiority complex and has often made my job even harder to combat. Every time I'm firm, he acts like he is a big victim of life and it really gets under my skin.

He makes me feel like I'm being completely unfair and over the top, whenever I ask anything of him. You're right, tough love May shake him up and make him realise just how lucky he's had it. Thank you.

OP posts:
Beamur · 18/09/2023 15:16

I think your expectations and his are different. He's seeing his gap year as time off and money earned as his. Whilst also expecting you to find travel, etc.
A calm conversation to reframe expectations is needed. He needs to grow up a little.

Nanny0gg · 18/09/2023 15:16

TheBarbieEffect · 18/09/2023 15:14

I think it’s awful of any parent to charge their child for living at home regardless of age, and being a single mother doesn’t change that.

I do think he should be helping out around the house though, as he should have always been doing, so it shouldn’t be something you’re asking him to do this late in the game.

Well then you must be in a very fortunate position.

I bet it costs more to keep the 18 year old MAN that it costs the OP to live.

He's got the use of his arms and legs and it's about time he used them to get a job,

You support your children till they're old enough to support themselves.

TheBarbieEffect · 18/09/2023 15:14

I think it’s awful of any parent to charge their child for living at home regardless of age, and being a single mother doesn’t change that.

I do think he should be helping out around the house though, as he should have always been doing, so it shouldn’t be something you’re asking him to do this late in the game.

Embarrassednamechangeadoddle · 18/09/2023 15:11

Absolutely enforce this. It will be the best thing for him. If he doesn’t pay then he will loose something like Wi-Fi or a food/drink only he likes being bought etc. you don’t want to end up with a 28yr old freeloading or you.

ilovemydogmore · 18/09/2023 15:10

Definitely not unreasonable, it's very little money compared to what he is actually costing you. Letting him just laze in bed doing minimal hours is really not doing him any favours - he wont suddenly decide to jump out of bed today and start being motivated. Tough love is needed, either contribute or get out!

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