A husband and wife have found themselves in a disagreement after she added $200 to their daughter’s Christmas budget and not their son’s, but for a specific reason.
According to Reddit user, BreeCC, during the school year last year it was revealed that the end-of-the-year field trip would be to a nearby amusement park. The total cost of the trip, per student, would be $200.
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As a way of teaching her 6-year-old daughter the value of a dollar, the mom told her little girl that she would loan her the $200 but that she would have to do extra chores around the house to pay her parents back.
According to the Reddit user, over the next few months, their daughter worked her “butt off” to earn enough money to pay her parents back. “None of the extra chores take very long, so we only take off a dollar per job. Things like sorting the recycling, helping with the dishes, checking for rocks before her father mows the lawns, etc. She has worked diligently and I am so proud of her dedication.”
However, before the end of the school year, the mom received a refund check because not enough students signed up for the trip. So, instead of just giving her daughter the $200 in cash, she added the money to her Christmas fund.
The Disagreement
This seems fairly logical, right? Well, not to her husband. The mom explained:
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“I am always the parent responsible for the Christmas shopping and my husband has never asked for input before so I didn’t think to ask him about this. I buy the gifts early as we run a business and that time of year is chaotic for us. I asked him to hide the barbie mansion in the garage where we usually hide the gifts as it is rather bulky and heavy for me to unload from the car. He asked how much it cost and I explained the above. He’s not happy.”
According to the post, the husband thinks their son will assume they are playing favorites and that it will create resentment issues in the future. “Our son is 3. I honestly don’t think he will care, he is getting ‘more’ gifts, just ones that are not expensive.”
The dad, on the other hand, told his wife that rather than add the $200 to their daughter’s Christmas budget, she should have put it in her bank account for the future. “I believe that as she earned the money for something fun it should go towards something fun. If the children were older I would agree with him.”
Now, her husband thinks his wife should either return the dollhouse or add another $200 to their son’s budget. So the mom is asking Reddit if her decision to spend more on her daughter, because she earned it, makes her “an a**hole?”
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The Response
And while other people’s opinions on the topic differed, there was one thing many of the commenters agreed on, that she was an a**hole for making their daughter work for the money for her class trip.
One person wrote, “I can’t get over the fact that you made a 6-year-old child work to ‘pay you back’ for a class trip. We don’t get a lot of time to be care-free kids before we’re thrust into the working world, and while I think chores and responsibilities are important, she’s SIX. That’s the only reason I think YTA. Otherwise, do I think you’re TAH for buying your older kid something expensive, and your 3-year-old something less expensive? No. He’s 3. Who even remembers anything from when they’re 3? I don’t. They won’t care about stuff like that until they’re preteens.”
Another added, “YTA- You made a 6 yr old work off a school trip at $1 per task?! And then, didn’t give her the money (even your husband’s bank account idea is better than a more expensive Christmas gift) If I were her, I’d feel so lied to. Your husband feeling that a 3 yr old has a concept of value is ridiculous. Kids are more likely to notice the number of presents (as compared to one another) versus the value. She should get the Barbie house for Christmas (if that’s what she asked for) Spend less on the 3 yr old. She also deserves the $200 she worked for.”
Sara Vallone has been a writer and editor for the last four and a half years. A graduate of Ohio University, she enjoys celebrity news, sports, and articles that enhance people’s lives.
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