A mother made her 18-year-old daughter sign a lease to continue living at home and charged her $100 a month in rent.
The Oklahoma mother of six shared a short clip with her daughter Jada, 18, signing the lease.
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The mother accompanied what she described as a “teaching moment” with the song Hard Knock Life, from the musical Annie.
She uploaded the video to TikTok with the caption: “If your 18-year-old decides to stay home.”
The clip garnered massive attention from fellow TikTokers and now has more than 1.6 million views and 4k comments from viewers, many of whom disagreed with the controversial move.
After seeing the many negative reactions to the post, Jada’s mother posted a follow-up video to TikTok explaining to her more than 24,000 followers why she chose to ask her daughter to sign the contract.
She said, “I was a single mom when I was 16 and my parents didn’t set me up for success, I had to fight for everything I have.”
She explained that she didn’t want her children to be “dependent” on her and that she wanted to prepare her children for “the real world”.
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The mother of six explained that if you rent in their area, you have to be able to provide “rental history”, so making a legal contract meant her daughter would have the paperwork for future homes.
Speaking of the $100 monthly fee, the mom said, “That’s the only bill [Jada] pay, no car payment, no insurance, no cell phone bill.”
And added that the money will be spent on: “Utilities, room, food and everything else.”
The parent explained that she asked all her children to sign similar forms when they turned 18 and that it “sets them up for success”.
Many viewers said they were asked by their parents to do something similar, and some said it negatively impacted their relationship.
One person said, “My parents did this and we’re not talking anymore! So good luck I guess.”
Another said: “I’m glad my parents love me.”
A third said, “I could understand after college or something, but just out of high school I would just leave and never talk to my mom again.”
But not everyone was so down with the initiative and some applauded the mother for carrying out the contract.
One person said, “Here’s the thing. As a mom I would say, ‘I won’t be here forever, so I need to teach you how to take care of yourself now’.”
Another said: “I don’t know why people make fun of you, this is great for teaching and it’s easy to save their ‘rent’ for future use.”