A TikTok clip from the channel dasaoming Lee Ming Walker discussing “True love in the family is giving each other freedom” has gone viral, being shared 16,400 times online and reaching over 1.1 million views at the source.
The message in the clip is more than just a "nice phrase"; it strikes a nerve within Thai society with a simple idea that few dare to voice, expressed as follows …
A child who loves their parents is one who learns to take care of themselves as soon as possible. Children should be assets to their parents, not "liabilities" or burdens when parents grow old. Being self-reliant means returning freedom to parents.
At the same time, parents who love their children should also take care of themselves—health, finances, and retirement planning—from early on, so children can have the freedom to build their own lives sooner.
In summary, true love is not about tying lives together but about "returning freedom" to each other. While this sounds like a beautiful answer, reading the comments reveals many other realities to consider, especially in the Thai context where love, duty, money, and retirement are tightly intertwined. Many top comments stated…
Some people entrust their retirement to their children.
Good parents raise good children, and everyone knows their role without having to say a word.
True love is passing on freedom to each other. This clip is absolutely true.
We are lucky in our families; parents and we are assets to each other. Parents have built everything, and we also add to what they created.
However, some comments offer thought-provoking alternative views, saying …
As a child and a mother now, I am happy to take care of my parents because all this time they worked hard to support all their children. They barely had savings for themselves—just enough money to cover household expenses. By the time everyone grew up, they were already old. Now that I am a mother, I understand. It’s not that everyone doesn’t want to save money for themselves, but some really do their best.
I agree. Each family’s context is different. Modern parents plan their finances well for their children and for their own retirement. But our parents’ generation didn’t plan this way; they cared for us with the knowledge they had then. We, as children, have the duty to care for our parents, and we do so with love, not seeing it as a burden. In the future, the model where children can truly have freedom must start with financial planning by parents today.
I grew up in a family that was never warm for many reasons, but caring for elderly parents is an opportunity to repay them in this lifetime. Doing what we think is appropriate is enough.
It depends on the person. I have cared for my parents for 15-16 years, from when they were 45 to 61 years old now. Since I began working and planning for myself, I have never faced financial hardship. I still have a motorcycle, a car, and savings. I want to care for them while I still have the chance; I don’t want to feel regret later.
All this reflects that the word “freedom” in Thai families does not mean the same for everyone. For some, freedom results from good planning: parents have savings, pensions, and health to remain self-reliant, so children don’t start life burdened unexpectedly.
But for many families, freedom was never an initial option because their life structures never allowed long-term planning. Income is unstable, emergency expenses high, and social welfare limited. "Entrusting retirement to children" is not intentional but the only survival option at that time.
The painful truth is that Thai society does not start from the same line, and not every family has enough capital—financially, educationally, or in time—to make the concept of "each taking care of themselves" a reality.
In an ideal world, love should have no conditions. But in reality, family love cannot avoid money. Children who bear long-term expenses without a plan may manage today, but the risk is their own future—saving, investing, health, and retirement—gets postponed indefinitely.
At the same time, parents relying entirely on their children don’t always live peacefully. Many feel guilty or like a burden even if their children never say or complain. This is where “money” does not destroy love, but lack of financial planning slowly erodes relationships unknowingly.
A key lesson from many comments is that a model where children truly have freedom cannot start when parents are 60 but must begin while parents are still working. Saving for retirement, managing health risks, and avoiding debts that bind children’s futures are not selfishness but the most concrete form of love.
At the same time, children’s choice to care for parents should not always be labeled as “carrying a burden.” If the decision is based on understanding, limits, and planning, the important distinction is not whether to care but whether care is supported by a system or done at the cost of one’s own life.
What this viral clip does well is not provide ready-made answers but open a conversation long avoided in Thai society—about money in families, retirement, mutual limits, and unspoken expectations. As long as these issues remain unspoken, love will be tested by silence and burdens passed on unintentionally.
Some families may have few options today, but new generations still have a chance to design a different future—not to escape duty but so love does not cost anyone’s life. Perhaps true love in Thai families is not lifelong dependence but striving for a day when caring for one another no longer means sacrificing anyone’s freedom.
Structurally, family love cannot be sustainable without financial risk management. Modern parents can no longer see saving, health care, and retirement planning as only personal matters but as cross-generational responsibilities directly affecting their children’s lives. Reducing future financial dependency is not cutting ties but not shifting all uncertainty onto the next generation, because every financial gap parents leave must be filled by children’s lives inevitably.
Likewise, children’s roles should not be reduced to “automatic burdens.” Caring for parents is a valuable choice but must rest on clear limits and planning. Not neglecting one’s own saving, investing, health, and retirement is not selfish but prevents repeating cycles of financial dependence. Children who care for themselves long-term can sustainably care for others without sacrificing their own lives.
Overall, Thai society must face not the question of who should care for whom but accept that “love alone is not enough without a support system.” Talking about money, retirement, and family expectations is not taboo but structural risk management of relationships. Families may not create equal freedom but can reduce future pain costs by starting to plan today.
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