Parents sometimes struggle to pay the bills, especially when there are multiple things that break and need to be fixed at the same time. If you were a parent struggling to make ends meet, would you ever consider asking your teenager who has a part time job to chip in and pay for things like groceries, or would you let your teen keep his money for whatever he wanted to spend it on?

In this story, one teen is annoyed that his parents keep asking him for money. He understands why they ask him for money, but he still doesn’t like it, especially when his friends don’t have to pay for things like groceries.

He’s wondering if it’s normal for this to bother him or if he’s overreacting.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AIO about parents asking me for money?

I love my parents, I really do and I still live at home, I am 17 and in high school and we’re not rich but not poor.

For a little bit of clarity, I work sometimes on weekends for a few hours, and I do summer jobs and I have a small painting business (mainly for family) so I do make money in some ways, but definitely not much, we’re talking barely 2000 euros a year.

My parents both work and we live with three dogs and my little brother (14).

He explains why money has been tight this year.

My parents have pretty good salaries, but of course we have those little set backs sometimes, and have had those a little too much this year only in the span of like 5 months (our dish washer broke down in the summer along with my car, we got to repair my car and are planning to buy a dish washer this month. )

Now before someone out there comes here putting me in bad light that I’m just overreacting because I should be a grateful teenager that I have a roof over my head, I am.

I am more than grateful for my parents and what they have done for me, but I guess I’m just getting sick of the constant borrowing for money thing. Because my mom always pays me back, but the thing is, it might take her months to pay me back.

And I think I am overreacting because of that.

He doesn’t want to spend his money on groceries.

But I just can’t stop thinking that that’s my hard earned money from a minimum wage summer job that I hate and my paintings.

Like I wanted to buy an acoustic guitar for myself so I could learn how to play a song at my graduation, but I currently have 75 cents in my bank account from the 720 euros that I earned in the job because I am buying for 20e (or more) worth of groceries, dog food or gas in between paydays.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m a helpful person. I love helping people, especially my parents, and they’re not bad people.

He feels pretty frustrated.

I know about their money problems they’ve had, and I kind of regret even talking about this when there are literal people dying, but the fact that I have to be the one to pay for things that every other peer gets for free is just feeling overly unfair.

I just had a breakdown about not having money to buy new clothes for myself, for example.

I can understand why he’s so frustrated. I can understand being a teen and wanting to keep the little bit of money you earn for yourself. Is it reasonable for his parents to expect him to buy things like groceries, or should his parents stop asking him for money?

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a sister who canceled a family dinner after realizing she’d been the only one putting in effort for years.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

One person thinks OP sounds privileged.

This person’s dad was pretty smart.

Another person can relate to this situation.

This person points out the bare minimum parents have to provide.

It’s important to note the OP mentioned that his mom pays him back, so it’s not like he can’t spend his money. He just can’t always spend it when he wants to spend it. He’ll be able to buy that guitar eventually.

Also, it’s his car that broke down. He’s lucky his parents are willing to pay to get the car repaired. They could expect him to pay for that expense.

In the end, I understand why he’s frustrated, but he’s a good kid to help out when he knows his parents are struggling even though he doesn’t really want to help.