Some adult kids expect a free ride from their parents forever.

This dad created a plan for his son after he got his first job. Dad asked for minimal rent and some contributions to the bills, but the son didn’t take it lightly.

Read below for the full story.

AITAH because I expected my 22 year old to pay minimal rent?

The kid graduated in December from a fairly prestigious business school. In less than a week, he got recruited, accepted a job offer making $55k a year, and started last week.

He was bragging one night about his benefits and insurance options, and how much money he was making and saving. I decided it was a good time to present to him a plan that I had been working on with my wife.

Because he has an adult job now and is going to be making adult money, I figure it’s time for adult responsibilities. He has paid for and controlled his cell phone for years and paid for college with scholarships, and we have never charged him rent before.

We didn’t even ask for his share of the auto insurance. His primary occupation, in our minds, was being a student, and that doesn’t pay, so I didn’t ask him to pay.

I did some research into local rents and grocery costs and came up with an average of approximately $1,500 for him to live on, and I still think that’s kind of on the low side. I asked him for $300, plus his share of auto insurance, which came down to about $70.

His son did not like to pay any amount of rent.

He was furious. He counteroffered with $150, and he puts $150 into his Robinhood investments to save up for eventually moving out.

Another part of my plan was to take every penny he pays in rent and set it aside to hand to him when he moves out to help toward a down payment or first and last month’s rent. But I want that to be a surprise for him at the end.

He thinks he can double his money in the market, so I don’t think revealing my surprise would change his mind.

I don’t want to push him out earlier than he needs to, but he says any amount of rent will push him out earlier than he needs to.

Now my wife wants to cave completely because he is so angry, and she doesn’t want him to do something rash, like move out too soon.

He was normally a mature and smart kid.

He has usually been very level-headed and mature about things in the past. I even describe him like George Bailey’s father described him: “He was born older.”

We don’t expect any rules to change, and he doesn’t have many now.

I tell him all the time that he doesn’t need permission from us, but we like to have an idea of where he is and when.

He drinks a little, but nowhere near excess; he games and goes out with his girlfriend.

He’s a good kid, but now he’s an adult with adult money. Am I the jerk for expecting him to have adult responsibilities?

It’s high time he gets treated like an adult.

Other people in the comments are chiming in.

A fair point from this one.

This user is taking the dad’s side.

Some wise advice.

This person is piping up.

And this one shares a similar story.

You can’t freeload off your parents all your life.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.