OP, I agree with you completely and the problem is that we have a concentration of awful people in this region who are like this. I run into adults with these sorts of attitudes all the time, so of course their children are this way. At our DC's school, there is one child who is particularly like this and his father is the guy at cocktail parties doing the same thing. It is learned behavior. Of course the parents don't correct the child when they don't see anything wrong with it. They are raising these children in their image. |
+1 This applies to a lot of discrimination as well. They are simply lacking experience with other walks of life. As to the op, my kids don't have a snobby problem but have had slip ups and misbehavior aplenty. We address it when we leave the situation as I dont see a need to humiliate them for the approval of a sick adult who gets off on public floggings. |
| OP where do you think they learned it from? |
| I love my sister and her kids, but this is my biggest challenge with them. They don't see it, though. They are always putting down people they see as "intellectually inferior." We were just on a trip, and my mom said something erroneous but innocuous (some wildlife fact) at dinner and one of her sons said, "you can tell she didn't take alegbra in 7th grade." We suggested they go to the kids club, and her son refused to go. He said he needed to be in the older kids' club because the kids in his age were below his level. My kids just wanted to go and hang out with their cousins and play ping pong and video games together. My sister and BIL encourage their kids to talk back to their teachers and praise them on FB for "correcting" their teachers and being smarter than them. |
Yes, this is a good point. I didn't know what Montcler was so had to google it- you could absolutely describe that in a way that does not involved the brand. But brands are an important marker for you so you use the brand. To some extent a brand can signal higher quality (eg a Patagonia jacket is going to be better for extreme temperatures than a Target branded one) but there are diminishing returns for that. I don't know the actual brands of coats that my kids have- I just looked and one is North Face and one is Patagonia. If I wanted my husband to get a specific jacket out I would say "can you grab the blue puffy one from the minivan (sedan/ SUV)" because I don't think the distinguishing factor is the brand. Since you do, that makes you brand concious and that likely seeps into your children |
Eh, you're over thinking this. I have a Toyota Highlander and a Honda Accord -- so nothing fancy there, ha! If I want my DH to grab something from a car, I always say, "could you get X from the Toyota" or "Y from the Honda". I don't say SUV or sedan. Again, I'm obviously not caught up on status here with my snazzy Toyota and Honda . We don't own any coats in the Montcler category; but I also say things like "grab your North Face".
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This is a stretch. You could just as easily say “my GAP raincoat” or “my blue Burberry trench.” It makes it easier for DH because he can quickly look at the label and see that it says GAP or Burberry. It doesn’t mean she thinks brands are super important. |
We do this when we travel with bags. I may say the big tumi or the away suitcase. I will also say the Burberry or Chanel bag by the kitchen counter. I could also describe bag as Star Wars or unicorn, whatever is the easiest way to describe a bag when there are many. |
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This is very context dependent. It sounds like OP, from the follow-up posts, is talking about status-obsessed kids, who really are probably getting it from their parents. Other people are talking about kids who are bossy/correct others/kind of rude. These are two different things to me, but they both stem from insecurity.
I will say that I grew up in a lower income community and kids there 30 years ago were far more obsessed with brands/class indicators than what I've noticed among my kids' peers and today in general. The greatest obsession at age 12 was having a top that screamed ABERCROMBIE, kids made fun of others for shopping at "low end" stores, or for parents having "low end" jobs, etc. It was awful. I have not seen that among my kid's peers, and they go to public school (but in a fairly well-off area). I would be mortified if my kids said or heard some of the things that were casually tossed around when I was growing up that just made fun of other kids for being "poor." I'm sure it still happens but maybe my kids' peers are more secure or something because I would be really surprised if I heard something like that. On the other hand, there are definitely the know-it-all types but those kids just seem awkward and insecure too me-- no one seems malicious. |
To me, the status obsessed kids and the bossy/rude kids are just variations on a theme. It's a child who thinks they are better than other people for shallow, incorrect reasons. All these kids should be getting the message regularly from their families that no, having a certain brand of clothes does no make you a better person. No, traveling internationally does not make you a better person. No, going to a certain school does not make you a better person. Even being very good at academics or sports does not make you a better person. A person should be measured by their actions. That's it. The rest is a result of resources, which for kids means parental resources, and to some extent genetics. Thinking that's what divides good people from bad is a really toxic, dangerous belief system. All parents should be discouraging it. Wealthy parents should especially discourage it because a wealthy kid who thinks they are superior to others just because they were born wealthy is as much a pox on his own family as he is on the society at large. It's not a way to encourage independence, hard work, or discipline. |
There are many ways to be mean and a jerk. You can be status conscious. You can be beauty or sports conscious. You can have bad manners in many ways. I would like to think I raised good humans. I stress good manners. |
That'll work out for them well later in life.
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Wow, the rude comment to the grandmother would have severe consequences. Being that disrespectful to a family member is way worse than anything else. |
I don’t know why she wouldn’t serve chicken fingers to all the kids when the friend came over to eat. Not “some kind of chicken” but actual chicken fingers. You can make them yourself or buy them. What’s more important, a friend or what you serve for dinner occasionally. And if her kids have any kind of life outside of their home they have had chicken fingers. Making a big deal out of nothing. |
I don’t buy chicken fingers. We don’t eat them at home. My kids definitely eat chicken nuggets from Chik Fil a and McDonald’s although we rarely/never go ourselves as a family. We have doordashed chicken for that kid who eats chicken fingers. I think we once did a Chik Fil a delivery and it was the first time I saw that kid eat at our house. |