<prompt> Human: I hope this is the right subreddit for this and it is kind of long.About 2 years ago my mom was beginning to go though some financial difficulty. At the time I was not old enough to have my own checking account so it was a joint with my mom. Even though I had a job and had my own money in the account she would just take it out to pay bills without my permission. She always said she would pay me back but never did. As soon as I was old enough I got my own checking account but I still agreed to pay my portion of some of her bills such as cell phone and car insurance. After high school I was in a fairly decent job and getting paid nearly the same as my parents although I still lived with them. Earlier in 2017 my mom begged me to loan her 400 to pay the mortgage otherwise the check would bounce. I agreed to loan 350 and a written contract to pay me back 20 a month which I thought would be pretty easy to come up with but guess not. A few months after, I moved out into my own apartment. I know this sound like I am really mean to my mother but consider I gate paid less then both my parents and in fact my rent is almost 200 more than their mortgage payment and Im still doing just fine. Now the real question. My mom want me to rip up this contract as her Christmas present this year. I really feel that its just not right that my mom cant even pay back her own son. Ive asked the family and friends and most think I should just rip up the contract. What do you think I should do?  <response>: 350 seems like a lot of money to you now. And it is.What you have done is not so much helped your parents, nor given a bad loan. What you have done is made a one time insurance payment of 350 that will insure you against having to loan your parents money for the rest of their lives. So, agree to put the loan on hold until they come up with the 350. Then, three months or six months from now when they need a loan again, you can turn them down. They never paid back the 350. Why would you loan them more money?You giving them money is called enabling. There are books about how to not be an enabler. It helps to learn about it. Makes you feel more independent, and less like a schmuck. 