What if parents laid down the law for their grown-up children?

Consider this. My maternal grandfather still looks after his forty-five year old son’s family. Wouldn't surprise many, considering this is typical of an Indian household, where parents try to spoon-feed their children with everything, so much so that they even decide their careers right when they are born! As bizarre as it may sound, it does happen quite often. Parents take care of their children's schooling, college fees sometimes fuel their careers for them as well. We all know things work differently in the West, where parents expect children to be responsible for their lives pretty early, but a rather drastic step taken by a New York mother is food for thought.

Amy Chua, a New Haven resident,  actually laid down rules for her two daughters, Sophia and Louisa, 23 and 20 years old, to use her home for a few summer months. Chua, a professor of contracts law at Yale, drew up a contract to let them use her Manhattan house for free but with lucid rules and restrictions, according to a report in Wall Street Journal.

New York is no doubt dream city for anyone to live. And hence, Amy was of the opinion that she can’t let her kids have it all without even realising that she and her husband saved up for 20 years to buy that house. To teach them monetary value, respect, cleanliness and responsibility, she came up with the contract.

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The contract has rules about cleaning their room everyday without fail, greeting their relatives and spending at least 15minutes with them, stocking their refrigerator with their father’s favourite juice, not using their parents room, welcoming parents with joy and gratitude among others. While some might say that these are things that are expected of children, Amy came up with a very quirky way of making sure that they actually do them.

A tad bit harsh is the fact that if the daughters don’t comply with the conditions that Amy and her husband Jed have lain down, they would have to leave the house.

So now comes the question if a similar situation is possible in our country. Is it possible in our overly emotional Indian society for parents to rent out homes to their own kids to teach them economic sense? Are Indian parents ready to prepare a one year contract for their kids to stay in an apartment with them?

Some seem to like the idea.  “I think it is a great idea to teach my children how much we have slogged to give the luxuries they have today,” said Noopur Singh, a 42-year-old private sector employee.

Ranjana Gupta who works as the Reservation Supervisor in the Indian Railways opined, “this is the right thing to do to make children independent and responsible. Even the bitter side of the contract stands just fine as a lesson. Because we give everything that our children wish for, they tend to take it for granted. With a contract I think they will take the gravity of things more seriously.”

Also read: Don’t fetishise moms, they are humans & have flaws: Pallavi Aiyar in Babies & Bylines

Now it is for you to decide how to teach your grown up kids the value of having a roof over their heads. It is also not just about having a house, it is also about maintaining it and being grateful to who provides it to you.

Parenting

Feature Image Credit: wealthconnexion.com