Parents pressure teenage daughter go to expensive out-of-state school instead of her in-state choice, call her a 'spoiled brat' for accepting their help: 'I want to know I can stand on my own two feet'

You know what they say, more money, more problems. This is a gross oversimplification of how wealth can corrupt us, but it remains true. Some people learn this the hard way. If you grow up without much, and then you suddenly are in a privileged position, it might still be hard to get rid of that scarcity mindset. That's the kind of thing that will stay with you for a long time. Or if you grew up with a lot and lose everything, it can take you a long time to rebuild your sense of inner worth. This all comes into even clearer focus when you become a parent. Because all of your problems start to become your child's problems, whether you want them to or not. It's important to figure out your relationship with money and to raise your child with a clear sense of it. Whether you insist on paying for everything for their whole lives, or whether you're going to push them to stand on their own 2 feet, it's important to be communicative about this.

Relationships with children are also two-way streets. If they start to express discomfort with the way you treat money, then you should listen to them. It doesn't always have to be a top-down decision. This family was in the middle of that kind of conversation when their daughter was about to go to college. College is a huge financial burden for many people. But it's also one of the first times as a teenager when you get to assert your independence.

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The daughter in the story was trying to make a life for herself without reliance on her parents, and her parents weren't quite ready to let her. She wanted to start saving money so she could be fully independent from her family, and her family was using money to continue to control her. She was left, caught in the middle, unsure of what to do. One path led to independence, but potential conflict with the family, while the other compromised her own sense of self. Scroll on to read the full story and understand what was happening here.
Am I wrong for refusing the college my parents insist on even though they're paying all because they called me a "spoiled brat"?

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