It’s an unfortunate fact of life that irresponsible parents often shift their burdens to their children.

A guilt trip is one of the most insidious things parents can do to their kids, playing on their emotions and love for them to try and manipulate their children into helping them out.

This user’s family is the perfect example of that, as when they fell on financially hard times, they tried to guilt trip their college-age son into giving him all of his hard earned money!

Check it out!

AITA for Refusing to Give My Sister Access to Her Teenage Son’s Money?

Hi everyone, I need your judgment on a situation involving my teenage nephew’s finances. My sister & family overall have poor money management skills.

My nephew, recognizing this, asked me to control his money for him, since I am more responsible & manage my money well.

He values responsible financial management and, after discussing it with him, I agreed.

He’s only a junior in college but he’s earned a decent amount of money through little jobs he’s done here & there, as well as life guarding in the summer.

Originally his account was linked to my bank but in his name that way i can do easy transfers for him when needed.

What a great Aunt to have helping you out! But soon OP’s family did something that proved exactly why her nephew asked her to protect her money.

Now, recently his mom (my sister) & her husband somehow bought a house way beyond their means, I really don’t know how they got approved.

But now they are drowning in bills and consistently behind. My sister revelry called her son in college and asked him to give them what he has so they can cover some bills.

My nephew being the honest kid he is actually told them how much he has saved: upwards of 5,000.

They wanted all of it.

OP’s nephew understandably refused, but his money hungry family wasn’t taking no for an answer…

He said no because he’s saving this money for when he graduates so he can buy a car or maybe move out and start his life.

My sister then forcefully tried to go to his bank and demand money be withdrawn but she was denied since I am the main account holder.

My sister called me and insisted I transfer her the money because it’s her son and she has a right to that money.

I stood my ground and said no it’s not fair to take from him and what he’s worked for, especially since I know for a fact they won’t pay him back.

Even when that poor nephew tried to meet in the middle, and was willing to give them some of his hard-earned money, they wouldn’t take anything but the whole thing!

My nephew offered them a compromise of giving them 1,000 free and clear but they want all of it & I refuse to release it as my nephew has told me he doesn’t want to.

Now my sister has called our mom & entire family to make me look like a controlling jerk, saying how I am trying to parent her son and teach him bad manners and not to help family.

She’s telling everyone I should give her control of the money cause it’s her son.

AITA for standing my ground and refusing to give my sister access to her teenage son’s money, even though he and I both think it’s in his best interest to have smart financial oversight?

I’m wondering if I am since they really need it, and may lose a lot without it. But ultimately my nephew said no and it’s his money.

Thank god the nephew had gone to OP, or his family would have taken his hard earned money and flushed it down the toilet just like they had with theirs.

Trying to and take away your kid’s money because of your own financial irresponsibility is a new low in the league of insane parents, and that’s a hard bunch to beat!

Reddit came down hard on OP’s side, wondering what type of parents would demand money from their children.

This user said to make sure the extended family knows the nephew came to OP, not the other way around.

Many people commented on the sad fact that banks will often give parents account access, regardless of legality.

This commenter said giving the nephew’s family money would only enable their poor spending habits.

And finally, this lawyer offered some stellar advice to OP on her role as custodian of her nephew’s account.

If you take anything away from this story, it’s starting an account at a different bank than their parents!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.