An Atlanta mother has taken an unusual approach to parenting by making her 9-year-old twin daughters pay rent and utilities at home. LaToya Whitfield, 38, says the idea came to her after a simple dinner request turned into a lesson about money, reports SWNS.Whitfield explained that one month ago her daughters, Grace and Autumn, asked to go out for hibachi dinners twice in the same week. “I asked the girls what they wanted for dinner, and they said hibachi, which can cost a little pretty penny,” said Whitfield, who works as an HR recruiter and runs a custom T-shirt business.She told them she didn’t have extra money for hibachi at the time. “So I told the girls I didn’t have any more hibachi money this week and I would have to sell more T-shirts or something else in order to make the money,” she recalled. “One of the girls said, ‘Didn’t you just get paid?’ and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s how you think this works.’”
A household lease for kids
That moment inspired Whitfield to teach her daughters what she calls “real-life lessons about money and the value of hard work.” To make it more concrete, she created a mock lease on Canva. Under the agreement, Grace and Autumn must pay $80 for rent, plus $10 for electricity and $5 for WiFi and gas.To cover their bills, the girls receive a “paycheck” every Friday, which they cash at the family’s in-house “bank” before paying their “landlord” — their mom. If they don’t pay on time, Whitfield enforces “eviction,” sending them to the sunroom, which she renamed “the streets.”The twins are also fined for things like not cleaning their rooms or failing to pick up after themselves. On the other hand, Whitfield rewards them for good grades and positive behavior. “I just want to drop the seed inside of them for all of the lessons that they are learning during this time,” she told SWNS.
Building independence
Whitfield says she has already noticed positive changes in her daughters since introducing the system. “The girls are very responsible and self-sufficient,” she said. “They can cook on a gas stove by themselves and deep clean their bathrooms by themselves. They even keep track of their own grades.”Ultimately, she hopes the lessons will stay with them into adulthood. “I hope that this is something that will pop in their mind when they get older and they have to start making these decisions on their own,” Whitfield said. “I am hoping that not only they will learn, but that they will remember this experience forever.”
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