I charged my daughter $400 a month to live at home after college.

She thought I was being cruel.
Paid every dollar without missing once.
Two years later she moved out.
I handed her an envelope.
$9,600.
Every single dollar she ever paid me.
Plus a little extra.
She cried.
I told her that was her security deposit, her first month’s rent, and her emergency fund.
She thought I was punishing her.
I was just a parent who understood that the world she was walking into doesn’t come with a safety net.
So I built her one.
Without telling her.
That’s not tough love.
That’s the only kind of love that actually prepares them.