Dear Jasmine,
My dad passed away when I was in high school and my mom has been raising all of us on her own. She struggles a lot with money and providing for all of us. My problem is that most of us have gotten jobs while we were in high school or when we graduated from high school but not my sister. All she does is goes out with her friends and party all the time. She takes money from my mom and spends it on clothes and other things that we cannot afford right now.
It makes me sad to see my mom and the rest of the family working so hard while my sister sits around and does nothing all day. I argue with her all the time but that doesn’t really help solve anything. Any advice would be helpful.
Thank you,
Bryon T.
Oklahoma City, OK
Dear Bryon,
I think that your mother is the one that needs to set some ground rules because it sounds like your mother has been letting your sister get away with doing nothing for so long that she has gotten use to it. Your mom needs to be firm with her and give her rules to follow. If she does not follow them, then she should receive a punishment, such as she is grounded and cannot go out.
Your mom is probably very tired from all the work that she does, but it is important for her to establish rules that everyone in the house should follow. Perhaps your mom can have a heart to heart talk with her and let her know that she needs your sister to contribute to the household instead of taking all the time. Hopefully she will be able to talk some sense into your sister.
Always here,
Jasmine
