WHY DO PARENT LOVE BORROWING MONEY FOR THEIR CHILDREN

Why Do Parents Borrow Money From their Children?

Your parents borrow your money…and of course, they don’t return it! You probably expect an apology but they don’t tender it! And to think that they start telling you that they didn’t spend the money on themselves but on the family needs? Does that sound like you? Common, let’s "branch" on this one...!

You have just received your salary or a scholarship fund…you have not told anyone but your mum’s suspicious look tells you what is coming next. In the next set of family discussion, she keeps chipping in the numerous family needs that are yet unsettled and how money is not forthcoming, but you do not say anything...

You go to your room to plan how you’d spend your money wisely with pen and paper…and just then "mumc" enters with the bombshell question; “…That your scholarship money, haven’t they paid it yet?” If you’d try to be smart, you’d say, “Which scholarship money? (But seriously, don’t try to be smart because your mum will tell you all the information about the scholarship, when they were supposed to pay, and even what bank they asked you to open an account with…!).

And then with an air of calculated effort, you reply, “They have paid it”. (You probably told her when they would pay it and expected the date to have skipped her mind, not knowing that she had since then, been actually planning on your money…lol! ) Then, she jokingly replies, “You didn’t even tell us when they paid it…” and then you go like “It skipped my mind”. Then, she smartly changes the conversation.

The next day, a sibling wants to buy kerosene and she’s busy in the kitchen…so, she beckons on you to quickly “borrow” her 1k for the mean time while she “returns”it later. You oblige her since of course, you can’t say you don’t have money. This “small small borrowing” goes on for some time and no “returning” takes place.

Then, one morning, she walks unusually slowly into your room, with such calm ambiance that should ordinarily have made you jump up with a start and ask what went wrong… but because you know what is about to happen, would only leave the bank account alarm in your head ringing. She doesn’t go straight to the point. She tells you about all the responsibilities that are at hand and then ends with;“My dear, you will ‘quickly’ borrow me…I’ll return it when…” This time around, it is not small borrowing, and as usual, the returning never takes place!

Sometimes, parental responsibilities can keep clashing on responsibilities and parents (in the average Nigerian family) always assume that everybody in the family should be understanding enough to contribute what (and possibly, all) they have towards the meeting of these responsibilities. Could they be right?

Well...I suppose the solution is a balance. Never be so selfish as not to include family in your financial budgets...parents should however, also note that children have personal budgets for their money too and will not like everything to be "borrowed" to meet family needs!