Your adult kid needs another $5,000, and the word “another” may matter more than the dollar amount. A one-time rescue can look very different from a pattern of repeated bailouts that leaves the same problem waiting around next month.
Parents face this dilemma more often than many might expect. Pew Research Center found that 59% of parents with children ages 18 to 34 had helped a child financially during the previous year. The question is not whether parents can love their children and still help them. It is whether the help moves the child toward stability or simply postpones the next crisis.
