The mother of three working adult children expresses that she was unsatisfied with the amount of money that they each gave her.
As such, one child took to social media asking others what an appropriate amount to give her would be. In an anonymous post to popular confessions page on Thursday (Sept 29), the child wrote that she and her two siblings supported their mother completely.
Their mother was a single parent, and she was a housewife that rarely cooked, she was no longer working and did not expect any CPF money for her retirement. Her child added that her mother’s house was fully paid up, and she did have some savings.
“What is the appropriate amount to be given by each kid ? Siblings mutually agree on 600-800 each that sums up to 1.8-2.4K monthly allowance for her, does this sound reasonable ? Would like to know in general how much is everyone giving ? Because mother seems unsatisfied and believed that children should not fix an amount and put a cap on it (increases as your working experiences )”, the child wrote.
The child added that she and her siblings tried to communicate with their mother on this matter, but were not able to come to an amicable conclusion. All three siblings had a plan for their own futures and retirement and felt that it was not feasible to increase the allowance they gave her based on their own salary increments.
The child asked other netizens what could possibly be the reasons that resulted in her mother’s desires and anxieties.
They wrote: “We bought her gadgets/gold that she wanted, brought her to restaurants/holidays. So is 2K very little to spend ?”
Last week, an online user new to the working world turned to the public for advice on how much of their paycheck to give to their parents as allowance. Many have left their two cents on the matter, with a few mentioning a five per cent allocation.
A workforce newbie on Friday (Sept 23) posted an adult life question under a serious discussion thread on an online news form. “Hi everyone,” the user wrote, “I’ve just gotten my first paycheck and I was just wondering how much of it to give to my parents as allowance.”
In Asian culture, many families pass the baton of carrying the financial load onto the children when they start working.
“All they tell me is ‘give us whatever you think is right’,” the Singaporean explained, “and I have no idea what is right because I don’t have a frame of reference. Do you all do percentages or how do you all decide on the allowance for your parents?”
In response to this, others who are already used to work-life in Singapore flocked to the comments section to give some advice. While some preferred giving the parents a varying amount, others said they prefer giving a fixed amount every month. One numerical figure that came up quite a few times in the comments section was a five per cent allocation. A few mentioned that they would give five per cent to each parent.
Others held interesting discussions over the practice, with one saying, “The culture of filial piety recognises any sacrifices parents have done for their children and thinks it is good to repay them with gratitude, most commonly in money. It is regarded as a natural duty of the child.” /TISG