We recently retired and decided to renovate our home. While we could have hired anyone for the job, we chose our son, who works as a contractor. He’s the sole provider for his family and has been under some financial strain, so we thought this arrangement would both help him out and get our renovations done.
Our daughter-in-law, however, called us “stingy jerks,” saying, “Why make him work for the money? Just give it to him!”
Things took a turn when she discovered that, in addition to paying him for the renovation work, we had also given our son a significant sum of money privately.
We hadn’t mentioned it to her, and apparently, neither had he. She was furious with him for keeping it from her.
When she came to us, we told her, “If you think he needs more help, go work and support your own family.”
She then confronted our son, who in turn accused us of being rude—especially for bringing up the money he hadn’t told her about.
Now they’re both expecting an apology, but we’re left wondering what exactly we did wrong. We feel disappointed by their reactions, considering we’ve tried to support them financially as much as possible.
Were we really in the wrong here? And what would you suggest we do?
Source: brightside.me