I'll just say if it was kid, I wouldn't ask them to pitch in for a family vacation, especially at such a young age. For us, my parents always paid for family vacations and really still do often. Their parents did as well and I plan to do the same. I won't lie, part of it is because I'd really prefer for us all to be together and if they're having to decide whether to spend their money on something with friends or something with us, with limited funds and being a young adult, I can understand that having new experiences with friends would often win...so I think them finding the time to take off work/school is enough of an effort for a family vacation.I have no idea how to navigate this new phase of life. My dh and I both graduated high school (I was still 17), went away to college and began paying our own way immediately. He and I both worked on campus as student workers. That money paid for food and housing. He and I both took gobs of student loans to pay for college. We came out with tons of debt (we went to Baylor).
So, now we have our dd18, who graduated this past May, and is full time at a local community college. She's been sick for 3.5 years with a chronic illness and life has been HARD for her for her high school years. She is just now able to get a job, though she's been babysitting pretty regularly for a few years. Anyways, she is living at home. Working 15 hours a week plus babysitting most weekends. She makes about $800 mo.
She pays her car insurance ($115 mo), phone ($24 mo) and 1/3 of her tuition and all books ($1k'ish) each semester. She also pays for anything she wants...fast food, shirt at Target, frap at Starbucks, musical downtown, movies with friends, etc...Should we be expecting her to pay anything else? I'm not sure what others do here. We are planning a WDW trip for next summer and I suggested to my dh that she buy her own ticket but he said he felt weird asking her to buy hers but not requiring that of her 16yo sister, who also has a job and babysits.
I'd love to hear what others require of their 18yo's (or just young, college age kids)!
As far as paying for anything else at home, honestly if s
I felt she was being responsible and working hard with school/work, I'd probably leave it how you have it now. It's not like she's not paying for anything,... I'd probably wait until she was able to work full time etc.