Parents’ lives – and financial affairs – are often controlled by their children. We’ve all heard of the bank of Mum and Dad right? From ferrying the kids around to bailing them out when they’re in debt, the duty of parenthood seems never ending.
It may be that I have the most tight-fisted Mother in the world, but I never experienced cash hand-outs or lifts to school or work, let alone social events – and get this, I turned out fine!
From an early age, I made my own packed lunch (we never got dinner money) and after I started my first job in a café at the age of 14, the only thing my mum ever bought me other than food was the odd pack of assorted knickers from Quality Seconds. You think I’m joking!
I always had an on-going joke with my mum that even if I was being chased down a dark alley by a man with a machete, she would make me wait until she’d finished dinner or whatever else she was doing before picking me up.
Every time we bring it up now, she will give me examples of when she put herself out for me, which only goes to show that those instances were few and far between otherwise she wouldn’t remember them all! Apparently, being stingy was all part of a well thought-out plan my mum had when I was born. All she says now is: “Well look how you’ve turned out. A strong and independent woman. I can’t have been that much of a bad mother!”
And I have to reluctantly agree. While I still have days when I wake up wondering why I wasn’t born a size 8 Cheryl Cole look-alike into a rich family, I am sensible with money, with a good head on my shoulders and my own mortgage that I managed to get without my parents putting down a hefty deposit on my behalf. (We won’t go into the fact that I’m probably in negative equity – that’s another blog for another time!)
So while sometimes like to make out that my upbringing was a tad harsh, it wasn’t all that bad and this is one valuable life lesson that I am thankful of.
I suggest that if you don’t want your kids still living at home at the age of 30 then keep your car keys in your pocket and that moth in your wallet. It never did me any harm (much)!
### Written by me and previously published in the Daily Echo’s Saturday magazine in 2009.
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