My parents are sucky when it comes to "negotiating" weddings.
They take and take and take. When it comes to giving, they rather keep quiet or keep giving hints that they cannot afford. My sister is now taking all of it in.
just for records, My mom has loads of savings, it's in x00,000. My dad is 59 and if he keeps a healthy lifestyle (stop smoking, stop downing cold sugared drinks), he could have work till good ole 65. And if he was anymore frugal than us, he would have accumulated a goldmine worth of savings. He rather launder it away at jackpots and pig/dog friends
My younger sis and I survived thru Secondary school base on our part time work. How much was school fees then? $3.50. We had NO private tuition, NO branded material on our bodies. Our uniforms, shoes etc came from the part time work that we did. I was more fortunate to be able to find work at SGH at 14 years old as a receptionist. My sis, poor gal, had to work for neighbourhood bakery selling tutu kueys.
I pulled thru Poly thru my full time work with various MCSTs before I met a decent boss who paid me $1300 to do his accounts and administrative work for his Wine magazine. Bear in mind I still had curfews to tackle.
Try this: to do administrative work = event organising wine tasting also. That, my parents will never understand
The wine cum dinner event starts at 7pm and usually dinner continues till 11pm. Wrapping up takes a good one hour and this ex-boss of mine always like to unwind with supper, knowing well that I don't usually eat much at such event. I was 18 years old then. I came home with a stormy looking set of parents, accusing me of playing and breaking the curfew. I was cinderella, that triumph I was riding home with became dust.
I had to deal with explanation and then try to see how much time I can spend to study... I hated the fact that I had to earn my own dough since 13 but yet I had still had to be under their mercy of staying in their house. Oh and not forgetting, I needed to pay for rental too.
I know that it's not like a was poor and had no education. I felt that my sis and I survived thru our youth and we are not obliged to pay for their bad habits ~ cigarettes etc. I am not against smoking but if you know that you would need your children to cough out money for your medication for stroke, high blood, diabetes and short breathes... then be considerate.
Compartively, my father in law who is now 67 years old yet he is as fit as a young rabbit. He is a great example for me to follow. Simple life has it's own joy. He spends nothing on himself and gives to my children even though he has no income anymore.
I still relied on their help with my children if my MIL did not hurt her knee.
*sigh* more later
