Should adult children living at home pay for groceries? Exclusive Nine poll reveals Aussies’ verdict

There is no doubt cost of living pressures are mounting on households across the country, with grocery prices continuing to soar.

Having children can greatly increase the costs for families, and while many breathe a sigh of relief when they no longer have to fork out for nappies and the like, there is a small window before kids start eating you out of house and home.

But what about adult children who live at home? Should parents continue to bear the cost of feeding them, or should they chip in?

Now, an exclusive Nine.com.au poll has asked that question and it seems almost everyone agrees on the answer.

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The poll asked readers, “Should adult children living with their parents contribute to the grocery bill?’

Of the 506 people who responded, 82 per cent said ‘yes’ while only 4 per cent answered with a definitive ‘no’. The remaining 14 per cent said it depended.

While some respondents said adult children should contribute to the cost of groceries if they’re working, others felt it was parents’ role to support their children, no matter what.

“I do not think children, even if they are working, should pay for groceries,” one wrote.

“Supporting children nowadays is very important and parents should support their children for the future,” said another.

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Others suggested that if you charge your child for groceries, it could be used one day for a deposit on their own home.  

“Setting up an account like a bond money account would be best and it would be in the parents’ name. That way they could afford a deposit for their own home,” one wrote.

But while supporting your children indefinitely is a nice idea, some of us are struggling to afford to keep paying for their groceries.

Parents of boys in particular will attest to just how much they eat once they hit puberty.

If your son plays sport or burns a lot of calories at the gym, at work, or doing certain hobbies that involve physical activity, pretty soon you will notice a huge difference in your grocery bill.

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My son was and remains a case in point.

By 12, he was eating more than my husband at dinner time. A keen sportsman who tried his hand at many different sports, his appetite continued to grow with him.

By his teens, he was playing representative sport and training in the gym almost every day, as well as working casual jobs as a labourer.

“[My son’s] avocado budget alone would be staggering. He sometimes eats three in a day”

Now 20, he goes to football training, plays footy and trains at the gym five days a week. The amount of food he eats is breathtaking.

Breakfast can consist of four scrambled eggs, one or two rump steaks, guacamole made from a whole avocado and a few slices of sour dough toast, a large milk latte, some fruit and yoghurt.

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Lunch might include a couple of chicken breasts on wraps or served with rice or potato and some vegies.

Dinner will be another huge meal consisting of two serves of some sort of protein.

Then there are the snacks, which number at least three a day and might include a large whole tub of yogurt over a day, fruit, protein or snack bars, hummus, muesli and the like, all washed down with milk and juice.

I have never actually sat down to work out how much he actually consumes, or the cost, partly because that would be petty and also I am too scared.

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I mean, his avocado budget alone would be staggering. He sometimes eats three in a day and those suckers can be expensive.

However, he doesn’t pay for any groceries. Nor does he pay board.

Now, before we grab our pitchforks to ride at dawn, let me clear a few things up. He is a uni student with a part-time job.

However, a string of injuries and two operations a year apart with long recovery time meant there were long periods where he was unable to work at all.

He does pay for some things himself, such as his phone and gym membership, and has had to shell out a lot of money for physio and rehab.

But I would be lying if I didn’t say I thought he could chip in for even a few avocados a week, but whenever I ask it goes down like a lead balloon.

I was discussing the topic with a friend who has a gym-going 19-year-old son who is also eating her out of house and home.

He doesn’t pay board or contribute to groceries formally but occasionally chips in by bringing home groceries to cook for himself and will cook for the family.

He has just started working full-time but she is not sure if she will change the arrangement anytime soon, as she is yet to charge his older sibling for food or board.

Another friend has a 21-year-old son who lives at home and works full-time. He does not pay board but buys groceries to make almost all of his own dinners and lunches for the next day.

In our case, we have decided to continue to cover the grocery bill for our son while he is at uni and working part-time, as he tries to make a career out of his chosen sport. 

I hope one day he makes it, and he can find a way to pay us back for all those steaks and avocados he ate along the way.

I might even settle for a nice dinner – as long as he foots the bill.

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