Every family has a “what are you gonna be when you grow up” talk. It’s usually a sweet, hopeful conversation. But for one 13-year-old boy on Reddit, that conversation wasn’t a “talk.” It was a “life sentence,” and it is absolutely bone-chilling.
Our narrator is a 13-year-old kid with strict, religious parents. He explains that from day one, they’ve drilled into him that “it’s a child’s job to care for their parents in old age and give up everything for them.” This is a giant, flapping, red flag, but just… wait.
He and his siblings have already had a rough time. Because of their parents’ rules, they’ve had a joyless, isolated childhood. “We were never allowed at birthday parties, to go out with friends, even school trips were limited,” he says. His parents would promise to take them on their own trips, but never did. It’s a classic, soul-crushing control tactic.
But all of that was just the warm-up act for the main event. His parents, who are getting older, sat their kids down to talk about their “financial situation” and “retirement.” This is the moment they revealed their “plan.” And folks, this is not a “plan.” This is a dystopian nightmare.
First, the “plan” for our 13-year-old narrator. He is to not go to college or university. Instead, at 18, he is expected to buy a house with his own money. And then, he is to get a job and “give them shared access to a joint bank account that my pay checks would go into.”
I need you to read that again. They are expecting their teenage son to buy them a house and then hand over his entire income for the rest of their lives. This is not a “retirement plan.” This is indentured servitude. This is financial abuse.
But oh, the plan doesn’t stop there. What about the other kids? The 17-year-old brother? He gets to go to university and get a degree. But his “job” is to then “come live in what would be the ‘family home’”—the house his 13-year-old brother just bought. (He agreed, because “no rent.” Of course he did.)
And the sister? Oh, the sister gets the worst deal of all. She is not allowed to get an education, because, in the narrator’s own words, “they’re essentially s*xist and believe women aren’t ‘worthy’ of education.” Her “plan” is to get married and also move into the house. They are literally building their own personal cult, funded by their youngest son.
When our 13-year-old hero, the only sane person in this room, was “shocked and denied everything,” his parents just told him “it was my duty as their son.”
And here is the most heartbreaking part. The kid is now “conflicted.” He feels guilty. Why? Because his parents “sacrificed their whole lives” to move to England from Afghanistan.
Let’s be absolutely, unequivocally clear about something. You do not get to use “sacrifice” as a receipt to cash in your child’s entire future. You don’t get to “sacrifice” for a better life just to turn your children into your personal servants. That’s not how this works. That’s not “parenting.” That’s theft.
This kid is 13 years old, and he’s already seeing his life mapped out as a pack mule for his parents and siblings.
So, WIBTA if he didn’t support this? Is he the ahole? Absolutely not. He is not the ahole. He is a child in an abusive situation. He is not “conflicted”; he is being manipulated. His “duty” is not to fund his parents’ retirement. His “duty” is to be a 13-year-old kid, and their duty is to be his parents, not his future financial dependents.