Teaching kids responsibility and work ethic can be a delicate balance for parents.

One father decided to offer his children paid training in his engineering business, but his wife worried he was being too controlling.

Was he being too hard on his kids, or was he offering them a competitive edge that would prepare them for the real world?

Read on to decide for yourself.

AITAH for making my kids work for spending money?

I (36M) have a business where I do engineering work under contract for various companies virtually.

I have three kids: 14M, 10F, and 8M.

In the past, his kids have shown an interest in his work, so he approached them with an interesting opportunity.

The oldest and youngest are interested in what I do and have made some attempt at learning it. The middle child is more into art but is open to the idea of industrial engineering.

I have offered each of them the opportunity to “work for me,” where realistically I pay them to train on a skill, with the payment being the motivation.

He explains how he would make this all work.

I would stay well within the confines of legality, just a few hours a week at $10 an hour, unless the 14-year-old can actually pick it up—in which case I told him I’d pay $20 an hour to do actual work for me.

They’re smart kids and I know they can do it. They’ve been spoiled brats up until now who get everything they want (our fault) with no real effort, even in chores.

However, his wife isn’t too pleased with the idea and raises some valid concerns.

My wife says I’m an AH and shouldn’t be forcing my kids to do what I want them to.

She thinks I’m telling them they have to be like me, but I feel like I’m just providing options for them to make money and get real professional work experience for college and beyond.

AITAH?

This certainly is an unorthodox approach, but maybe there’s some merit to it.

Redditors were pretty conflicted.

This commenter thinks these kids are too young to be doing work like this.

This user thinks it’s important to remember these kids actually seem to enjoy the work.

On the other hand, maybe this dad is getting a bit too far ahead of himself.

Expecting kids to enjoy every single thing they do is a bit unreasonable.

This may be one thing this couple never quite sees eye to eye on.

As long as his children enjoy the learning opportunities, then no harm, no foul.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.