Mom Receives $1,000 Request From Daughter’s Father After He Asks To Take Her On Vacation
The dad doesn't work, so he needs a sponsor.
fizkes | Shutterstock We all know that raising a kid after a divorce can be pretty tricky. Who will the child live with? Once that’s decided, the next question is how often the child can see the other parent, every weekend, every other week, or once a month? And one thing that always seems to come up is money.
Usually, the parent who doesn’t live with the child and therefore doesn’t have to pay for their day-to-day care has to pay child support. That dynamic can cause a lot of conflict as well. Another important issue that often comes up is paying for travel. For instance, if one parent takes the child on a trip, should the other parent help cover the costs? This is exactly the situation one Reddit user is dealing with.
A dad asked his daughter on vacation, but expected her mom to pay.
The mom explained in a Reddit thread that for the past eight years, while she lived with her daughter in a different state, she had been taking her child to Florida for spring break every year. When she moved back home, the girl's father asked if it would be okay for him to take their daughter on a trip.
The mom agreed. "A couple of weeks go by," she said, "and he sends me a $1,000 request on Apple Pay."
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A | Shutterstock
She immediately called him to ask what was going on. His response was that he needed the money to pay for the trip. "I instantly went off on him," she wrote. Why would she have to pay for a trip her daughter was taking with him when she had been financing her past travels?
Dad argued that because he wasn't working, his ex should help him pay for the trip.
The dad was out of work and money was tight, which is understandable, but what isn't understandable is the fact that he expected his ex to foot the bill for the trip. What he should have done was postpone the trip until he could afford it.
Regardless of his reasons, the mom emphasized that they had just moved, so money was tight for her as well. On top of that, she argued, "He does absolutely nothing for her throughout the year." She added that she told him he was crazy to think she would ever give him anything.
To make matters worse, the mom said that the dad is now claiming she is keeping their daughter from him. His family started to harass her, but unsurprisingly, none of those critics are willing to help pay for the child’s trip. The daughter, who is 15 years old, said she doesn’t care about going on the trip, but the dad’s family claims the mom forced her to say that. The mom added that this conflict is making her feel anxious, which is why she has asked for other people’s opinions.
The mom has every right to refuse to pay for her ex's trip.
It goes almost without saying that the mom shouldn’t have to fund a trip for a dad who doesn’t care, doesn’t work, and doesn’t take part in raising his daughter. But if you still need more perspective, let’s look at just how challenging it can be to raise a child as a single mom. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median yearly income for single mothers is about $39,120, compared with $125,980 for married couples.
Where does that leave a single mom? With difficulty paying for groceries, transportation, the child’s medical care, clothing, and much more. On top of that, there is emotional strain. According to Acenta Integrated Health, a mental health service in New Jersey, "There is an emotional challenge that single mothers go through, a sense of loneliness and depression when mothers cannot share the good and bad experiences with someone or have a partner to share the work with."
The takeaway is that the mom has every right to deny the dad that much money to take the daughter on a trip. If he wants to do so, he can work and save up to create that experience himself. The mom has already had to raise the child on her own, so she gets to decide how to spend her money.
Matt Machado is a writer studying journalism at the University of Central Florida. He covers relationships, psychology, celebrities, pop culture, and human interest topics.
