Straight from the Listener Line: Money, Boundaries and Your Adult Child: When Is Enough Enough?
Your adult child calls. Again. The rent is due. The car payment is late. There’s another financial crisis — and once again, you’re being asked to help. So what do you do when you know your adult child is struggling, but you also know that some of the struggle comes from their own financial choices? In this short episode of Straight from the Listener Line: Real Questions, Real Answers, Denise turns to psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein to answer a question many parents wrestle with: “What...
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RSS Feed Your adult child calls. Again.
The rent is due. The car payment is late. There’s another financial crisis — and once again, you’re being asked to help.
So what do you do when you know your adult child is struggling, but you also know that some of the struggle comes from their own financial choices?
In this short episode of Straight from the Listener Line: Real Questions, Real Answers, Denise turns to psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein to answer a question many parents wrestle with:
“What do I do when my adult child keeps asking for money after making irresponsible decisions?”
Dr. Bernstein talks about the difficult place where love and limits collide — and why repeatedly stepping in to solve a financial crisis may actually keep an adult child from learning to manage one.
You’ll hear:
- The difference between rescuing and supporting
- Why “I can’t afford it” may not be the best response — especially when it isn’t true
- What you can say instead of automatically saying yes
- Ways to offer help without simply handing over cash
- Why an adult child’s anger about a new boundary doesn’t necessarily mean the boundary is wrong
- How parents can manage their own anxiety and resist the urge to rush in and fix things
Sometimes real support isn’t about making today’s problem disappear. It’s about helping our adult children become more capable of handling tomorrow’s.
Have a question for Straight from the Listener Line?
Call us at 719-347-1106 or email us at biteyourtonguepodcast@gmail.com.
Email: BiteYourTonguePodcast@gmail.com
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And remember…
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