Supporting Adult Children Financially

I have always felt that my job as a parent is to teach my children how to not need me.

After all, someday I will be gone, they will need to be on their own, and there is no way to know when that will happen. My job is to help them be happy adults and teach them to be self-sufficient and good citizens of the community. If they feel they always have me to fall back on financially, I will not be helping them to be self-sufficient. Instead, I need to help them build a workable budget that is realistic and requires them to live within their means. If they need to live with me for a while that’s fine but we need to have an agreement in advance that includes what their responsibilities in the house will be and how long the arrangement is for. Of course, there may need to be adjustments to the agreement. But, my job and my goal are to help them become and remain independent and self-sufficient.