I’m trolled for charging my 6, 8 & 9-year-old kids rent… they do chores for pocket money, some say they’re way too young
A MUM has taken the internet by storm with her controversial decision to charge his kids rent.
Samantha Bird, 30, saw herself go into a spiral of debt and is on a mission to make sure her children don’t experience the same fate.
With the hope of giving her children a head start in adulthood, Samantha makes Simon, Jonah and Asher, aged nine, eight, and six respectively, pay “mock bills”.
Each week the children get an allowance of $6 (£4.76) with $1 (79p) of that expected to go towards their expenses, another $1 for groceries and a final $1 on utilities.
Receiving their money through doing chores during the week, the children are able to keep track of everything through workbooks that their mum created.
The insurance representative, from Holland, Michigan, USA said: “Once a week we sit down with the boys to do our money data, get out their workbooks and wallets then talk through a financial skill.
“We charge our kids rent for a few reasons, I want them to know self-control when it comes to their money and want them to manage their expenses.
After spending years trying to get her financial life in order, Samantha is steadfast on making sure her children are better prepared for adulthood than she was.
The 30-year-old realises that her children are still young, so she makes sure that they know they are saving for a treat and makes it as fun as possible.
The workbook that has been created for them has been broken down into six sections: earning, saving, spending, giving, investing, and expenses.
She uploaded a video on TikTok showing her parenting technique and this been viewed over seven million times with many parents taking the advice on board and doing similar things.
However, not everyone has been so positive with their feedback.
Some parents have taken to the comments, and on occasion to her private messages, to let her know what she is doing is wrong and she should let her kids just be kids.
One TikTok user said: “Just let kids be kids!”
While a second added: “They’re way too you to be doing stuff like this, just leave them be!”
Samantha did joke that her children don’t get evicted should they not pay rent for a month.
The negative feedback hasn’t stopped her helping families around the world.
She said: “My husband and I ended up severely in debt and not financially sound.
We charge our kids rent for a few reasons, I want them to know self-control when it comes to their money and want them to manage their expenses
Samantha Bird
“It took us years to get our financial life in order and dig ourselves out of the hole we were in.
“Because of this experience, I really wanted to ensure that my kids could avoid as much of that as possible.
“Once a week we sit down with the boys to do our money date.
“We then get out their workbooks and wallets and we talk through a financial skill for that week and dole out their allowance.
“They receive this for doing chores throughout the week, they then budget it out depending on what goals they are working on.
“So many parents have been telling me they’re going to try it with their kids or that they wish their own parents taught them similar things.
“A lot of folks really don’t like it and want to let my kids be kids, it’s been a heated debate in the comments of my videos for weeks now.
“It’s been great to see so many parents investing in their children’s financial future.”