Parents Not Giving Their Daughters Equal Money Slammed: 'Value Her Less'

A mom has been slammed online after revealing how she financially contributed to one daughter more than the other.

In a survey conducted earlier this year by Savings.com, it was revealed that over half of parents over 18 in the U.S. provide their children with some financial support.

As young adults face hurdles of starting out in life in a financially volatile world, parents are thought to be shelling out an average of $1,000 a month to support their kids.

Trevor Elliott MBE, managing director of Kennedy Elliott, told Newsweek that it is important to ensure children and young people also understand the value of money: "If financial support is given as an incentive by parents, it can motivate children as a productive reward system. When money is earned, children also learn the value of money which is really important. That's what makes financial support from parents a feasible option; if it's fair, earned, appreciated, and openly discussed."

Sparking debate, Reddit user u/Express-Fail-5820 explained how she and her wife have two kids, both in their 30s.

But when the parents refused to help one daughter with a house down payment after contributing to their other daughter's home and wedding, internet users were not impressed.

"We have a great relationship with both kids," she said in the viral post that has received thousands of upvotes and replies on Reddit.

"Twelve years ago, Ava got engaged to her now husband. We bought them a house in our neighborhood and the next year paid for their wedding," she explained.

At the time, the couple offered to buy their other daughter, Heather, a plot of land in their neighborhood.

"She thanked us for the thought, but said that she didn't know where she wanted to be and that we shouldn't buy land for her," explained the poster.

The couple bought the plot of land anyway, and although she never made use of it, Heather had thanked them.

Recently though, Heather asked for a favor. "Heather approaches us, clearly nervous, and respectfully asked if we would be able to help her with a down payment for a house in the city where she lives. She was clear she understood if that was not possible," wrote the poster.

But this request caused an argument between the couple—while the poster explained she would love to help her daughter, she said they were in very different financial circumstances then than they are now.

"My wife thinks that Heather does not ask for much and that we have clearly helped one child significantly more than the other. She thinks we should sacrifice whatever we can to help Heather," said the poster. But she disagreed.

"We are hoping to retire soon, and do not have a lot of excess money," she explained. "I think if we talk to Heather openly about the difference in our financial circumstances now and then, she would understand."

The couple ruled out selling the land to raise the money in case the daughter ever wanted it again in the future. But on Reddit, users slammed the parents for refusing to give their daughter the money.

"You've clearly favored one daughter," said one Redditor.

"I think YTA [you're the a******] for paying tens of thousands for Ava's wedding and hundreds of thousands for Ava's house but not putting aside or saving anything close to that amount for Heather," said one reply.

Another commenter wrote: "You are basically punishing Heather for not wanting to settle down at the same time and same location as her sister. If she had wanted to purchase 12 years ago, the same time as her sister you would have divided the funds allocated to help your children."

Later, the mom updated the post after reading the thousands of responses and said: "So many of you saying that Heather will think we value her less, [that] is our biggest fear here. You've given us a lot to think about and we're going to try to move forward as best we can to make sure Heather knows she is loved and valued. We are going to do our best to improve going forward."

Newsweek has reached out to u/Express-Fail-5820 for comment. We were unable to verify the details of this case.