Nothing like giving someone the benefit of the doubt, eh?

Hold the Alt key then type 156 on the Num pad (It has to be the Num pad!) then let go of the Alt key. Ta-da a ￡ sign.

edit:

http://usefulshortcuts.com/alt-codes/currency-symbol-alt-codes.php
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html

And the OP has only been dipping into his mothers hard earned money for... How many years now?

Given how far ￡20 goes these days, the OP is still in all likelyhood still dipping into his mothers "hard earned money".

Your right, we don't know the situation, but that just makes any arguments for or against mute anyhow, all we can do is voice our opinions, mine simply being that I don't think she should be charging a sixteen year old rent during a holiday job.



If she were to take issue with that then she should have thought twice about having a kid.

I'm guessing he'll be eating her food, using her phone, watching her TV, using the internet, and everything else besides.
20 pounds is not that much, considering.


Why not? He needs to learn money management and basic budgeting skills at some point.

I don't think a parent's basic duty to care for a child they chose to bring into the world counts, somehow. "For your sixteenth birthday we present you with a bill for the expense of bringing you up. You can pay us back in monthly instalments at a rate of 27% APR."

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that kids should turn into advlts who think they can live the life of Riley forever more and contribute nothing to the household, but I know that there are parents out there who seem to think their kids owe them a living, which strikes me as being a bit of a bizarre reversal of how things would normally be. Perhaps I'm as guilty as the naysayers for making assumptions about the OP's situation based on my own not-so-fond experiences, but I figure I'd rather that than lambaste him.

Noones' asking the OP to "Pay his parents back", but if you can find a way to live on ￡20 a week without living on the street, please let me know. He's simply being asked to contribute now he has the means to.

Heck, I can't figure out how to live on ￡20 a day!

He isn't a child anymore. He's a wage earner. If he doesn't like it, he can try a cheaper option... if he can find one.

That's the one thing about child-support I hate. Lots of parents abuse it, and it ends up going to things unrelated to the child. If your father is paying 120 [currency] a month, shouldn't that be your "rent".

I know my mom abused the child support money she got. All that she bought me was food, everything else (and I do pretty much mean everything) I had to pay for.

So by that line of reasoning, since a live in dad probably spends more than that people with live in dads shouldn't pay rent on principle?

From what I understand from the posts here, he's sixteen and doesn't qualify for the average wage and had he decided to move on his own he would have no way of supporting himself, theres not much a choice there and he's not earning much of a wage as is. By the sounds he's not being asked but being made to. Did you pay rent at sixteen?



I had a practical living class in high school, do they not teach money management in England? on top of that I payed for my own phone, car, and insurance when I was old enough to and its been the best way to learn as its things I depend on that I have to pay for. If i didn't manage right I would loose those, whats she going to teach him by taking away pay from a meager holiday gig?

My opinion is that it's still a bit premature. Granted, it may be coloured by my own negative experiences, but I'm not convinced it's entirely appropriate; all I can say is that I wouldn't expect a 16-year-old of mine to pay me housekeeping from a holiday job unless we really were on the breadline. Maybe others would disagree, but for me, taking the attitude "pay up or find a way to live on ￡20 a week without living on the street" seems a bit hard-line.

It would be hard line, if he were being asked to pay 80 pound a week, and wasn't still being provided food and electricity and internet and everything else.

We don't even know if she's actually going to end up charging him. He said she 'wants to,' so he may end up even reaching some sort of compromise with her. The fact that it's 'wants to' and not 'is going to' indicates, to me, that there is some form of reasoning behind why she's doing this. It'd be good for the OP to explain why she wants to do this.

I mean, people are slamming the woman, and all it might have been is that she said to him that he can pay rent out of his money rather than, say, doing chores or something. OP really hasn't gone into much detail.

If OP really wants to show some responsibility then he should go out and buy 20 pounds of groceries a week, eggs, bread, milk and all that.

You are TOTALLY going to hate paying rent for your first place

Agreed. One of the responsibilities of being a parent is to provide the basic needs of the child: water, food, shelter, education. That stuff should given without question.


If this mother is needing a little extra money to keep the household going, she should say as much (and it would be entirely reasonable). If its to "teach him how to handle his money"... she hasn't been doing a good job of teaching money management (in my opinion). I never paid 'rent' to my mum, and had no problems jumping into living independently.

If this is only a summer job, and the OP is going back to full time education at the end of it, whatever money he earns is actually going to be spread over the whole year. If he pays for textbooks and suchlike, that can eat up money pretty quickly. And if he is planning to go to a university, he'll be needing that money (and lots more ) in a couple of years (assuming he does the smart thing and puts some of it aside with that in mind).

Buuuttt... as PersonWorm has been say, we don't know enough details to do more than speculate and waffle .

EDIT: Softened a couple of things after re-reading my post.

She might even agree to funding his entire education, textbooks and all, if he spends the holidays paying 20 punds a week.

I mean, that is SO unlikely, but we are just speculating here.

Is it really so bad to pitch in money though? Especially in a lousy economy?

I mean, when I was working in highschool, I I was helping pay for food and stuff. And then in my gap between highschool -- college I was working full time, and helping pay rent, food and other stuff. The number varied, but it usally stayed between 250-500 a month.

I wouldn't expect a parent to ask a kid to pay rent, but I mean. It's not the worst thing ever. when my dad was in highschool he worked, and his dad took every penny he made.

And waffling :nod:.

As long as she's still treating you like a family in a family, I think it's a very good way for you to learn to grow up and start financial management. When you're out starting to rent your own place living by yourself, you'll realize 20 out of 25 is simply nothing.

I don't think anyone is saying that its bad to pitch in, but alot of us just think that at sixteen and not even being able to buy/drive a car its a little unreasonable to expect him to pay rent to live in his parents house. No matter how you spin it, it's her responsibility to take care of him until he can provide for himself, and a summer job is not financial independence. I've been helping my mother since I can remember, but thats because I felt the need to help out because she had nothing after my parents divorced and her career was ruined , plus her arthritis got so bad she couldn't use her hands, but she never asked or expected me too.

Did you, yourself, not your parents, pay for the house?
If yes, then it is YOUR house. If not, then it is your parent's house, and if they decide to charge you rent, they can.

I worked when I was sixteen, and I paid my parents rent until I GTFO. I also saved the majority of what I earned. Paying rent did not bother me at all.
My parents fed and clothed me, and although my dad was a hardass a-hole, I felt rent was reciprocal.
End result was as Tiny Howie mentioned, I learned to manage my income.

Also as many have pointed out, rent, utilities, clothing, and food cost far more than the twenty pounds a week he is paying.

if someone is legally and advlt, why not? more over, it is strongly suggested. one, start paying back some for what parents already did provide. two, teacher now legally advlt then child some fiscal responsibility. and so on

It's also his responsibility to contribute to the household when he can.

That's a very poor stance on the matter if you ask me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession#Squatter.27s_rights Not sure if it's particularly relevant or useful though.