Would You Charge Your Five-Year-Old Rent? Here’s Why this Mom Says It Happens in Her House

Giving your kids chores around the house as a way to earn an allowance is a great way to teach young kids responsibility and financial planning. But instead of handing over their weekly allowance, how do you feel about taking out some of the money to cover the cost of living? A Georgia mother says this is exactly what happens in her house and she's doing it for a good reason.

Essence Evans has received mixed reactions for her now viral Facebook post where she explains that her 5-year-old daughter is required to contribute a large portion of her weekly allowance to pay for her family's rent, water, electricity, cable and food. While Evans gives her daughter $7 a week for her allowance, the little girl never sees all of the money. In her post, she writes, "I explained to her that in the real world most people spend most of their paycheck on bills with little to spend on themselves. So, I make her give me $5 dollars back. $1 for rent $1 for water $1 for electricity $1 for cable and $1 for food."

While her daughter is free to spend the remaining $2 however she chooses, Evans noted that taking the money is part of a greater lesson for her daughter. She goes on to say the $5 from her daughter's allowance is not actually going towards paying bills but into a savings account for her child. "Now, what she doesn't know is the $5 is actually going away in her savings account which I will give back to her when she turns 18," Evans writes. "So if she decides to move out on her own she will have $3,380 to start off. This strategy not only prepares your child for the real world. But when they see how much real bills are they will appreciate you for giving them a huge discount."

The post has been shared over 320 thousand times and raked up quite a few comments--some positive and some, not so much. Some parents were commending Evans for teaching her daughter real-world money skills and shared similar stories of how they are handling and teaching money responsibility in their home.

However, others were critical of Evans' choices saying her daughter is too young to fully understand the value of money through this lesson and wonder what the stress of having to hand over the money could cause the daughter. Some even asking if she doesn't complete her chores, will she be evicted from her mother's home?

As a mom who sometimes struggles to get her kids to complete chores around the house, I'd personally be happy to hand over the $7 each week just to get someone to do the laundry and dishes. No need for any money to be deducted--just please put your clean clothes away.

But we want to hear from you. How do you feel about taking money from your child's allowance to pay for bills? Is it real world experience or a lesson they don't need to learn just yet.