People Call Me A Bad Mom Because I Made My 18-Year-Old Sign A Lease And Pay Rent To Live At Home

An Oklahoma mom has gone viral after revealing that she’s made her 18-year-old daughter sign a lease and pay rent in order to continue living at home. The mother of six posted a TikTok video of her daughter signing the document, calling it a “teaching moment” as the song “It’s a Hard Knock Life” plays over the clip.

@c_d_g

Rent a room🤷🏻‍♀️#droppinbytoshowlove🤟🏼 #daughter #mother #18 #leaseagreement #setupforsuccess #softplacetofall #saftynet #stayinhome #myhouse #myhousemyrules

♬ It’s The Hard Knock Life – Annie Movie

  1. The mom believes she’s doing the right thing. She thinks that by requiring her daughter to act as though she was living independently, she’s setting the young woman up for success later in life as she will truly understand responsibility.
  2. Not everyone is on board with the idea. Many people just can’t get into the idea of charging your own child room and board, with several commenters on the video admitting that they literally stopped talking to their own parents for pulling the same move. “My parents did this and we no longer talk! So good luck I guess,” one person wrote. Another suggested: “I’m in my 20s and can barely get by with two jobs. HELP HER SAVE !!! So she can be financially stable when she goes on her own.”
  3. The mom defended her decision in a follow-up video. “I was a single mom at 16 and my parents didn’t set me up for success, I had to fight for every single thing I have,” she said of her decision. In other words, she doesn’t want her kids to have to rely on her or to struggle to cope once they get out in the real world. Not only that, but signing a lease encourages them to actually learn to read what they’re signing and “not just sign something because it’s in front of you.” She also said that since homes in their area require “renter’s history,” she’s helping her daughter out by charging her $100 a month to do just that.
  4. This is the only bill her daughter pays. The mom went on to say that the teen, named Jada, doesn’t pay for anything else. “No car payment, no insurance, no cellphone bill.”
  5. There are some fans of the decision. While controversial, a few commenters believe the mom is actually doing something good for her daughter. “My mom did this and it definitely made me a more responsible person very thankful for that, nothing in this world is free,” one person wrote.
@c_d_g

For those who want to know the info #mom #daughter #leaseagreement #informational #askquestions #dontassume #thehateisreal #parenting #setthemupforsuccess #droppinbytoshowlove🤟🏼

♬ Paper Birds (3 min) – Jordan Halpern Schwartz

Jennifer has been the managing editor of Bolde since its launch in 2014. Before that, she was the founding editor of HelloGiggles and also worked as an entertainment writer for Bustle and Digital Spy. Her work has been published in Bon Appetit, Decider, Vanity Fair, The New York TImes, and many more.