My son owes a debt and his mother wants to pay it off, I have no objection, but why should I be expected to sell my house to settle his debt?

Mom, your son owes someone money and you want to pay it back, I have no objection, but why should I be expected to sell my house to settle his debt?

As parents, you shouldn't spoil your children excessively, especially in a family with two children, where favoritism toward one child should also have its limits. Excessive favoritism will not only harm the favored child, but also destroy the happy life of the other child. Parents need to have sense and not be willful.

My younger brother and I grew up in a single-parent family. My brother is six years younger than me, and since childhood he received meticulous care from our mother. Although my mother favored my brother a lot, whenever I thought about how hard it was for her to raise us alone and how much my brother needed care, I willingly took on the role of a responsible older sister. But my mother's and my indulgence did not bring my brother a good life; instead, it spoiled him with a whole set of bad habits. The older he grew, the more trouble he caused, and every time something happened I had to clean up his mess.

Over time, my brother's troubles grew bigger and bigger, and he became more and more unreliable. Every day he idled around with a bunch of shady characters, and as a grown adult he had no proper work, only knowing how to go out eating and drinking with disreputable people. Yet my mother still indulged him blindly, and almost all the money I gave to the family over the years was squandered by my mother on my brother. My salary is not low, but every month I had to give most of my money to my mother. Every time I saw the remaining balance in my hands and thought about the money that went down the drain for my brother, I couldn't help feeling wronged on my own behalf, and I also grew impatient with cleaning up after my brother. If I didn't have a brother like this, I could have bought a house and a car long ago. Finally I decided to consider myself for once, and used the money in my hands to pay a down payment, planning to settle down in the city and get married.

Just as I had finished paying and was about to celebrate, my mother called me again, saying my brother had beaten someone up, the other party agreed to settle privately, and 100,000 yuan in compensation was needed. I furiously yelled at my mother, "I don't have a single cent in my hands, let that wastrel go to prison and learn how to be a proper person," then hung up the phone and ignored my mother's calls. The next day, my mother actually came to my workplace to find me. As soon as we met she wailed loudly, saying I was an ungrateful wretch who would not lift a finger to save my own brother. Later the scene grew bigger and bigger, causing me a lot of negative impact, and because of this my boss even called me in for a talk, and I nearly lost my job.

I told my mother that the money in my hands had already been paid as a down payment and I didn't have a single cent. My mother's eyes suddenly lit up, with the look of someone who had found a way out of a dead end, and she threatened to kill herself unless I sold the house to pay off my brother's debt. At that moment I was no longer willing to compromise and swallow my grievances. I didn't want to sacrifice everything I had for such a bottomless pit, and no matter how my mother begged me, I refused. Before my mother could continue scolding me, I said to her, "Every time you call me, it's either to make me clean up his mess or to ask for money, not even a single word of greeting. Am I really your own child?" I said through tears, "Mom, your son owes someone money and you want to pay it back, I have no objection, but why should I be expected to sell my house to settle his debt? Are you really my mother?" My mother said nothing and left in a daze, then went home and scraped together money from relatives to pay off my brother's debt. According to a neighbor, that day my mother gave my brother a hard slap, and she finally understood how hard these years had been for me, and realized that her favoritism had not only ruined my brother but also dragged me down.

(From a reader submission, the images in this article are from the internet)