A netizen shared how she is “shocked” to find out that a man in his 30s who is working is still getting an allowance of about $1k from his parents, and she related it to her own situation.
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Do you give your parents allowance, or help out with household expenses if you don’t? Or do you leech off your parents and live free or receive an allowance from them? (assuming your parents are not rich)
Recently, I am shocked to hear someone who is 30+ and working is still receiving allowance of $1000 or more from their parents. In another case, my friend told me that her elder sister, who is also 30+ and married with 3 kids does not give her parents any allowance but still goes home to get free toilet paper, condiments, food and stuff. She would sometimes also make her parents pay for her food and gas when she brings them out for meals and exploits her parents to help her with stuff like buying food and delivering to her house. There are also people who are in their 30s and are unemployed just leeching off at home.
I have a sibling like that too. My mother works a tough job and does not earn a lot. Ever since my first job right after secondary school, I gave my mom allowance unless I am tight on cash or is switching between jobs.
My elder sister (9 years older) who earns almost double of me and is still single with no commitments did not give a single cent because she claims that she does not want to “fund” my mother’s smoking addiction (ok fine). I also contributed for household groceries most of the time but my sister would just eat free or claim groceries expenses from my mom. Usually, after work, I would call to check with mom if she needs me to tabao dinner for her, knowing I would do this, sister would ask me to tabao her share conveniently (most of the time I ignored her request because she doesn’t pay me back and I was earning less than 1.5k at that time).
During a period, I had part time night classes on certain days and would come home late so I couldn’t get dinner for mom. Knowing this, my sister would go out on these days and avoid mom calls and messages to buy food for her. She also frequently forgot her wallet or wait for us to pay when we go out to eat together as a family.
I don’t know why some people are so calculative over small things (like a $2.50 dinner, or a drink) and cannot part with their money.
I think it is not wrong and it is fine if you have commitments or conditions and did not give your parents allowance (some parents prefer to be independent) or help out with household expenses, but receiving money and exploiting them does not sound right to me. They don’t seem to feel embarrassed, guilty or remorse for exploiting their parents or other family members.
Do you have friends or family members like this too?