Teen Quits Job After Parents Demand She Pay Rent. Now Her Parents Are Calling Her Selfish

A 15-year-old asked Reddit for advice after clashing with her parents over what she described as unequal expectations around work and money.

In her post, the teen said she has an 18-year-old sister and a 21-year-old brother — and claimed neither sibling has ever had a job. While acknowledging that her parents “work hard to take care of us,” she felt it was unfair that she, as the youngest, was expected to put her earnings toward “rent and stuff” when her siblings were never asked to contribute.

She explained that she’d been earning money through babysitting for neighbors and a few weekly shifts at a coffee shop. But once her parents began expecting a significant portion of her pay to go toward household expenses, she said she decided to stop working for money altogether. She ended babysitting and gave two weeks’ notice at the café.

Rather than continuing under terms she disagreed with, the teen wrote that she chose something more aligned with her long-term plans: volunteering at her local public library. She said the experience could support her goal of applying to university for library science.

She also addressed concerns about how she would pay for school, noting she has an education trust fund from her grandparents — the same as her siblings — and said she wouldn’t need her parents’ financial help for tuition if she’s accepted.

Her parents, she wrote, were unhappy with her decision. They called her “short-sighted” for quitting and criticized her for leaving the families she babysat for, which she appeared to dispute.

“I said I would continue to work if they let me keep my money,” she wrote, adding that when her parents refused, she told them they couldn’t force her to keep a job. Instead, she said she would focus on school and scholarship opportunities.

The conflict intensified when she told both sets of grandparents about the situation. She admitted she felt “a little bad for snitching,” but said she didn’t regret it much — even though her parents were upset and insisted they didn’t answer to their own parents.

She ended by asking the community whether she was wrong. Most commenters backed her, arguing that she’s still a minor and should have control over her earnings. One person wrote, “You are just a kid. That’s your money,” while another said expecting a teenager to pay rent while older siblings contribute nothing “isn’t fair.”

When someone suggested her parents were taking all her income, the teen clarified it wasn’t everything — “Just a big percentage of it.” Even so, readers largely agreed she wasn’t in the wrong, and many praised her for prioritizing education and independence.