Do you feel sorry for less affluent family when you're around them today? Especially their kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not that they're not happy and nice, but if I'm being frank, honestly, their kids are so dull. We can tell our children run academic & soft skill circles around their solidly middle class cousins. I really don't think it's IQ, it's just environment and better schools and higher-caliber peers. Makes me so sad. I wonder if their parents are as cognizant as we are while we watch them interact?

I feel sorry they may not have a proper set of fine china to talk about on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

I feel sorry they may not have a proper set of fine china to talk about on DCUM.

Seriously, maybe they feel sorry for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not that they're not happy and nice, but if I'm being frank, honestly, their kids are so dull. We can tell our children run academic & soft skill circles around their solidly middle class cousins. I really don't think it's IQ, it's just environment and better schools and higher-caliber peers. Makes me so sad. I wonder if their parents are as cognizant as we are while we watch them interact?

Flip side: your kids are not going to make it as CIA agents.

[Anonymous]

Once upon a time someone considered Robert Chambers and Michael Skakel high-caliber peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, if the revolution comes I'm sure those kids will be better off than yours. Pls read "The Mandibles" and get off your high horse.

Just finished this book. Wish we could have coffee & discuss.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes, but then you realize there's nothing you can do. It's not money, it's not even opportunity; it's the parents, it's their household ethos. No amount of opportunity or money you throw at your nieces and nephews can change their simpleton backwards parents.

[Anonymous]

OP, judging by how incredibly obtuse you are, your poor kids are growing in a pretty sad environment. I bet your MC cousins feel sorry for you and yours

--an affluent parent who can buy the smanciest kids' peers in the area LOL

[Anonymous]

Understanding and ability to discuss sports are actually incredibly helpful both in social situations and in career situations. You know what successful men talk about? SPORTS. All. the. time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Understanding and ability to discuss sports are actually incredibly helpful both in social situations and in career situations. You know what successful men talk about? SPORTS. All. the. time.

As the only foreign (!) woman (!) who doesn't know or care about football, all I can say is amen. So true. It's lonely out there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with OP. The kids of our relatives have no table manners or ability to make pleasant conversation. They seem totally mesmerized by screens.

What does this have to do with affluence?

Plenty of "rich"people let there kids sit in front of screens, plenty of middle class people don't and vice versa. Table manners...also nothing to do with affluence. You are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

It's normal for a mother to think her kids can do no wrong. She's simply oblivious to the reality of what her kids are like I can't count the times my dumb-ass relatives praised their kids for superior intelligence and uncanny ability to use forks. I'm actually a very polite person who doesn't mention the very same kids had to repeat the 5th grade for failure to grasp basic math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually have the opposite experience. When we go back home to visit, I feel like the kids there are overall much happier. They don't have the problems with anxiety, depression, and unfortunately suicide that we have in the DC area. Maybe it's because I am from a very rural area. But the kids there are just more carefree. No one in my family is poor. They are all college educated. The kids go to college. Most go to good state schools. They get decent jobs. They aren't world travelers. They don't speak three languages. They probably won't make millions. But everyone seems happy. They show a gratitude that I feel like many in larger cities just don't have anymore. When I visit my family farm, I am blown away by how beautifully simple life is.

This, one hundred billion gazillion times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's quite obvious that a lot of these tweens and teens have absolutely NO experience at sitting down to a family meal or being guests in homes where meals are served. It IS sad. They don't know what to do with a napkin.

I agree with you, but I disagree with OP's broad assertion that that is based solely on socioeconomic status. My best friend is solidly middle class, and her kids have way better table manners that many of the children at my kids' private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that they're not happy and nice, but if I'm being frank, honestly, their kids are so dull. We can tell our children run academic & soft skill circles around their solidly middle class cousins. I really don't think it's IQ, it's just environment and better schools and higher-caliber peers. Makes me so sad. I wonder if their parents are as cognizant as we are while we watch them interact?

No. Mainly because even the poorest in my community (Asian Americans) are academically advanced than other groups. Nothing to do with environment, better schools, HHI, high-caliber peers - everything to do with parenting, cultural values, intact families and work ethic. I laugh at clueless parents who think that they have been able to provide an edge to their children by being affluent. lulz!

I hope you realize that people are laughing at you for failing to realize that being affluent can, in so many ways, provide an edge for children. I don't agree with OP's statement, but you are seriously jaded if you think money comes with no benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pre-teens and teens drinking energy drinks and sugary Sprite all days[i]. Not a book in site. iPhones and iPads and TV every minute we've been here. All they do is mumble 1-3 word responses when you try to engage. Sad to see.

This part made me laugh in particular. You're really judging kids because they drank Sprite on a holiday? You'd have been horrified by my sisters and me! We were almost never allowed to have soda growing up, but on holidays we could have "special" drinks like Sprite - sometimes we even made them into Shirley Temples! It never occurred to me that drinking Sprite on thanksgiving as a pre teen indicated that I was lacking in "soft skills" Poor me.