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Teaching kids financial responsibility means telling them “no” even when giving them money would be easier.

In this case, a woman decided to help her 17-year-old brother manage his spending by giving him a weekly allowance from her own money.

Their mom is currently trying to pay down credit card debt, while her son has developed a habit of spending money almost immediately and then using their mom’s credit cards.

OP hoped the allowance would encourage him to budget, but he keeps spending it.

So she decided to just tell him no, apparently for the first time.

After his reaction, she was left wondering if she was doing something wrong.

What would you do in her situation?

Read the full story below.

AITA for not sending my 17M brother 6p?

My younger brother (17M) tends to be financially irresponsible and toxic when he doesn’t get his way.

My mom is currently working to pay off her credit card debt; however, my brother keeps using her cards to buy food or packages.

As my mom is being financially frugal, I decided to help out by giving him a weekly allowance from my own money.

I thought this would help as he can start to be a little more financially responsible.

But it didn’t go as she expected.

I told him that if he needed extra money for a good reason, I would definitely send it. However, he is spending his money all at once, e.g. on a Monday, then has no money on Tuesday.

He orders food and stuff on Amazon on the weekends using my mom’s card.

Today, I spent more than expected. My sister was running late, so I ordered an expensive Uber for her.

My mom needed groceries, and my brother needed an Uber home, which I paid for.

I had also sent him his weekly allowance after school. Today, he asked for extra money for fast food.

It didn’t seem reasonable.

My mom was planning to make home-cooked food, and I didn’t mind ordering food since it would be a while before my mom came home.

However, he tends to go over his allowance when ordering food. I’ve let it slide.

However, I want my brother to understand how to be frugal and save a little. Especially since he tends to ask for things like money for online video games.

I don’t want to teach him that money is easy to obtain and spend.

She said no.

When he asked me for extra money, I told him no because I had gone over budget and didn’t have much left. Furthermore, he ordered food last night.

He proceeds to yell at me and have a tantrum. I didn’t let that sway me.

I wanted him to make better decisions about how to spend his money. It hasn’t even been a full hour since I sent his allowance.

He starts to swear at me and say that I’m not being fair. He fully changed from nice to rude.

But she feels bad.

He also becomes super manipulative and says that I’m never nice and that me sending him extra money last week was nothing, so why am I saying no now.

I just wanted to ask, was it wrong of me not to send him any extra money? His allowance is decent for a 17-year-old.

I feel awful, but I hate that he resorted to swearing at me because I said no. He also ended up ordering food with a gift card he had never used.

AITA?

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Learning personal finance is so important. He will be better off learning this early. What did Reddit have to say?

Something to consider.

A good question.

A reader shares their thoughts.

Yup.

Another commenter chimes in.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a friend group that’s split when one roommate backs out of their dream apartment.

I agree.

They could keep handing him money and letting him be a brat, or they could teach him how the world works before he has to learn it by himself.

Helping family is okay, but in his case, he’s taking it for granted and becoming entitled.

He needs to learn discipline. That’s going to help him for his entire life.

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Mila Cardozo

Yells her own name like a Pokémon sometimes.

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