Mother Tells Teen He Has To Give $100 To Help Pay For Thanksgiving Dinner But He’s Refusing

Nov 23, 2021 by apost team

Thanksgiving is a time for being with family and sharing precious moments together. Food is of course a big part of that and something that most people look forward to on the day. However, even if your family is quite small, a Thanksgiving meal is no small feat to pull together and it can also cost a lot of money. Since Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season and Christmas is just around the corner, it's also a time of year where expenses can really add up, so every dollar counts.

The cost of hosting a Thanksgiving meal can be a lot for some households, and while it's not common to ask those attending to help contribute to the cost, some families may do so if they need some assistance. That's what happened with one family, where the mom asked her 16-year-old son to pay $100 for his share of Thanksgiving dinner.

This happened after the boy had recently gotten a job at Taco Bell as he wanted to have some extra money for himself. He was using the money he earned to save for college overseas and he also wanted to help out his single mom with some things.

But as time went on, he found he contributed money to her much more frequently. So when she asked for the $100 for Thanksgiving, he refused and they got into an argument. Unsure if he was in the wrong in the situation, the boy wrote into Reddit's "AITA" subreddit to see what other users thought. Let's take a look at the situation.

The 16-year-old boy began his post and explained that he got a job at Taco Bell "because [he] wanted to save up some money to go to college overseas and help [his] single mother out with [some things]." But soon he found he was helping out more than he had hoped to. He wrote:

"Pretty soon tho, I found a big chunk of my payments going towards helping my mother out with somethings, it was here where I said I was gonna cut back on somethings and continue saving my money for my own desires."

That's fair, considering the boy had already contributed a fair amount to his mother and he wished to focus on his savings a bit more. But then Thanksgiving time came around and his mother asked for a seemingly large amount of money to cover his share of the meal. He continued:

"This thanksgiving, my mom is asking me for $100 dollars to pay for part of thanksgiving dinner. I said no, stating my personal desires."

Unfortunately, this led to an argument where the mother "got angry" and told the boy he "shouldn't have a job if [he] wasn't going to help for Thanksgiving dinner." The boy said he "got angry and left the room." But afterward, he wasn't sure if he was in the wrong. He finished his post and said:

"I had already spent a lot of money helping out with some things and I realized that if I continued, I’d have nothing left for my personal desires. Was I being petty here?" 

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The Reddit forum overwhelmingly found the boy to not be in the wrong in the situation. The top-rated comment said:

"You are a child. Your mother shouldn't be putting these kinds of pressure on you. If she can't afford the meal there are plenty of organizations that will help. No child should be paying to help support their family."

Over 4,000 people agreed with that person. Meanwhile, another user wrote:

"Your future comes first. Also who tf needs more than $100 for a Thanksgiving dinner? If y'all have a huge family I guess that's feasible but that's just excessive to me, and I've bought and cooked dinner for a family of four for less than that."

Other users agreed that the amount for his share was much too high. Another person added they'd just bought groceries for Thanksgiving for a group of six people and paid less than $100.

Someone else knew the situation the boy was in, as they told of how they also gave a lot of their money to their parents, but ultimately it left them unprepared for things as an adult. They said:

"I didn’t stop giving my money to my parents until after college, and it left me unprepared for a lot of things. I never had a savings, bc as soon as they caught wind of it, they’d come asking. Good on you for standing up for yourself. At 16, your share of the dinner is helping to cook it and clean afterwards."

Overall, people agreed that not only was the amount the mother was asking for far too high for the boy's share, but it wasn't his duty as a child to continue helping his mother out financially. 

Do you think the 16-year-old boy was in the wrong or not in his situation? Let us know, then pass this on to others so they can decide too.