Mother wonders if she's wrong for letting her 4-year-old son spend his entire life savings on her friends (and there's a lot to unpack here.)

When I opened this thread, I found myself first wondering, what kind of mother would allow her child to spend their savings on her friends? That quickly gave way to wondering why a 4-year-old has this much money in the first place—enough that they could afford multiple meals and gifts (at an amusement park nonetheless—not cheap). After pondering over these things, I finally came to terms with the fact that there are some very different tax brackets at play here than I was initially picturing.

Well… at least he hasn't been saving for very long! There's still plenty of time for him to recoup from this devastating financial loss. After all, he probably won't remember it—and if he does it will be as his earliest trauma. If his allowance (which appears to be larger than my paycheck) doesn't cut it, then the trust fund should certainly help out. There's a lot going on and a lot to unpack with this one.

Why does this 4-year-old have such an extraordinarily large allowance? It's not as if a 4-year-old can actually rationalize saving for a future. Are whatever parts of the brain involved in future planning even developed at four years old? Why on god's green earth has this mother allowed this infantile good samaritan to spend his entire savings on her adult friends? I can't help but picture some sort of "Mr. Moneybags" type scenario where all the adults are gathered around laughing and making light of the fact that this child actually wants to spend their money so that other people can eat. What a concept.

This whole situation is incredibly confusing, and it sounds like there are some conflicts happening between the parents behind the scene, but I'd say the commenters (and Reddit hivemind) have it right with this one.

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Posted by Brad Dickson