Mom Stops Her Ten-Year-Old Son's Allowance After Finding Out Her Husband Is Stealing It

Nov 03, 2021 by apost team

Many parents give their kids an allowance for doing chores and other tasks around the house to help them learn about financial responsibility and working for what they want. This is a great way to help teach children about how to save their money and how to spend their money wisely. It's exciting for kids to finally get the chance to buy whatever toy or snacks they want with their hard-earned money, which encourages them to continue doing their chores.

However, one mother went to Reddit on Nov. 1, 2021, to talk about how she decided to stop giving her 10-year-old son an allowance. While she had no problem giving her child money to buy snacks or other items he wanted, she had an issue with where the money was actually going. 

It turned out that her husband had been taking the boy's allowance and using it to buy stuff for himself, like cigarettes and drinks. The husband is unemployed, so he came up with a way to trick his son into giving him his allowance to use for himself. This had been going on for a couple of months.

After finding out the truth, the original poster (OP) decided that enough was enough and she explained that she would no longer be giving her son an allowance. This resulted in a huge fight with her husband, and it left OP wondering if she made the right decision. She asked Reddit users for their take on the situation and share any advice they have for her.

Finding Out The Truth

Starting off her Reddit post, OP explained that she recently started giving her 10-year-old son an allowance because he likes having his own money to buy whatever he likes. On top of that, her husband is unemployed, so he is usually unable to buy things for their child. Since OP works long hours as a nurse, she typically isn't home much, so she doesn't always know everything that's going on with her family members.

OP explained, "The problem is that I discovered by accident that my husband has been taking the money from our son to buy his own stuff like cigarettes or a drink. He'd approach our son whenever he has money and tell him he'll buy him what he wants, but ends up spending the money on something else." 

The dad simply told the son that he would buy him whatever he wanted but that the son needed to give him his allowance money in order to do so. OP's son revealed that this had been going on for two months. "Turns out my husband asked not to tell mommy because she'd get mad at him and he'll be in trouble and promised to get him his stuff but he never does," OP explained.

Once OP found out the truth, she and her husband got into a huge argument. Her husband said it wasn't a big deal and reasoned that he could consider using his son's allowance as gas money since he's usually the one driving to the store to buy him whatever he wants or needs.

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Taking A Stand

"I shamed him for taking advantage of our son and taking the money that was meant for him and said he was acting like a thief but worse when stealing from his own son," OP said. She decided that she would no longer give her son an allowance so her husband couldn't steal the money anymore and that she would handle her son's needs from now on. However, her husband argued that her son would resent her and called her "heartless and financially controlling."

Since then, OP has wondered if she handled the situation in the right way, so she asked Reddit users for their opinions. The majority of users agreed that OP was right to stop giving her son an allowance and even urged her to start keeping a closer eye on her own bank account.

One user commented, "I think your problem is way deeper than the allowance issue. What your husband is doing is a real breach of trust." Another user agreed and shared their own similar experience to what OP was going through. The user said, "OP you need to be very vigilant about your husband's finances and check every account you have. Stealing from his own child is probably only the tip of the iceberg, and I would not trust this man with anything."

Speaking about OP's husband, a third user commented, "If he's so worried about his son being 'resentful' maybe he should, you know, stop stealing money from a 10-year-old child." The Reddit user also encouraged OP to divorce her husband for the betterment of her and her son.

Do you think this mom was right to stop giving her son an allowance? What would you do if you were in her situation? Let us know, and feel free to send this to your family members and friends, too.