The ‘Parent Tax’

I first learned of the tradition of children supporting their parents from Mike Dang (he’s mentioned his support of his own family on this site), so I was really interested to read about Joy Cho’s experience with it.

She is Thai and her husband is Korean. They send both families money each month, plus pay for plane tickets to visit them, meals when they’re together, and for extras, too (they recently bought her father a new car when his broke down). Cho says: “When we were young, our parents took care of us — financially, emotionally and physically. But now, it’s time for us to take care of them … While we jokingly call it ‘parent tax,’ it’s something we’re happy to do to honor our parents. We’re trying to say, ‘I finally made it, now let me thank you for helping me get there.’”

She also talks about her own daughter and whether she’ll expect support from her when she’s grown up. Read more at Cup of Jo.

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