An uncompromising mother stirred Redditors into a frenzy when she insisted her young daughter uphold her end of a financial bargain. The question is, can a 12-year-old enter into a verbal contract? Here is the full story.
She Loves the Water
OP is the mother of a teenage girl who loves to swim or at least, who used to love to swim.
She Wanted a Pool
Neither OP nor her husband really enjoy swimming, but their young daughter hounded them for years to put in a pool at their house.
She Never Backed Down
As the girl grew from childhood into her preteen years, OP and her husband could see that their daughter wasn’t going to lose her love for the water any time soon.
They Made an Offer
So, when the girl was 12 years old, OP and her husband made her a deal. They would buy a pool and have it installed if the girl agreed to pay for half of it once she was old enough to start working.
She Jumped at the Chance
The young swimmer was thrilled with the chance to get her own pool, so she said yes to the deal. OP and her husband held up their part of the bargain and had the pool installed.
She Loved the Pool
As OP expected, her daughter loved the pool and spent many happy hours in the summer swimming and lounging in the water.
She Has Her Own Money Now
Now, OP’s daughter is 16 years old and recently got her first job. Like many teens, she’s excited to have some spending money that she can control.
She Had Her Eye on Something
One of the first things that OP’s daughter wanted to buy with her money was a prom dress. So she started socking away her earnings to save up for a particular dress she had her eye on.
Mom Squashed Her Plans
But when OP heard what her daughter had planned, she was quick to swoop in and cast some gray clouds on those plans.
They Had a Deal
OP reminded her daughter that she had agreed to pay for half of the swimming pool.
Mom Wants Her Money
OP told her daughter that she had to start repaying that debt now that she was making money. But the girl doesn’t want to do that and doesn’t think she should have to.
She Will Punish Her
OP has no intention of backing down, though, and intends to make her daughter pay up. She has threatened to take away the girl’s phone and care until she starts to pay up.
She Stopped Talking
After the blow-up between them, OP’s daughter refuses to speak to her mother.
He Wants Her to Have Fun
And now OP’s husband has turned against her in this argument, too. He thinks that OP is being unreasonable and that they should just let their daughter have fun.
They Could Afford It
OP’s husband also points out that they could always afford the pool but they just didn’t want to add on the expense and maintenance overhead.
He Was Never Serious
He says that he never really expected their daughter to keep a bargain she made when she was 12 years old. He can’t believe OP did, either.
She Has Her Doubts
So now, OP is at odds with both her daughter and her husband, and it has her second-guessing her strict enforcement of the deal they all made.
She Wants to Teach a Lesson
At the same time, OP thinks it’s very important to teach her daughter a lesson and make her realize that she can’t go through life breaking her promises.
Redditors came down hard on OP for the way she’s handling this situation.
They Think She’s Silly
Most of them agree with her husband and daughter, and they think it’s silly for OP to expect the girl to pay her for a deal she made when she was 12.
They say that kids that age generally don’t have any idea about how much work it takes to make a certain amount of money. They think it was OP’s fault for dangling a carrot in front of her face and enticing the girl to make an unreasonable agreement.
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The post It’s Time to Pay Up! – Mom Demands Payment From Daughter Over Childhood ‘Financial Deal’ Now That She’s Earning Her Own Money first appeared on Mama Say What?!
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / BearFotos. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit
