Why a Georgia mom says she makes her 5-year-old pay ‘rent’

How young were you when you first learned about paying bills? For one Georgia mom, there’s no time like the present.

Essence Evans, an Atlanta mom, sparking conversation across the country after she posted a story on Facebook about why she makes her 5-year-old daughter pay “rent.”

Every week, Evans said, she gives her daughter an allowance of $7. But she explains that “in the real world” most people don’t get to just keep all of that money to spend how they like - they need to pay bills.

So she turns around and tells her daughter to give her back $5 - $1 for water, $1 for rent, $1 for electricity, $1 for cable and $1 for food. Her daughter gets to keep the last $2 to either save or spend.

But Evans said she has a secret. She takes the $5 she gets back from her daughter each week and puts it in a savings account that Evans said she’ll give to her daughter when she turns 18. “So if she decides to move out on her own she will have $3,380 to start off,” Evans said.

“This strategy not only prepares your child for the real world,” she said, “But when they see how much real bills are they will appreciate you for giving them a huge discount!”

Evans’ post has been shared more than 300,000 times since it was posted Sunday, and has sparked a sometimes heated discussion about whether it was a great idea or, perhaps, a little too much for a 5-year-old to grasp.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 7:19 AM with the headline "Why a Georgia mom says she makes her 5-year-old pay ‘rent’."