How do you handle inequality between cousins ?

[Anonymous]

Yep, agree, it's life. Tell them that.

[Anonymous]

That's life. I few up poor. My cousins would ask what santa brought me for Christmas and it always hurt because I got nothing. I often lied to classmates. In the end it made me work harder and become more successful. It also taught me resilience which children nowadays are missing.

Tell your kids everyone is different and to not compare households.

[Anonymous]

Important lesson to learn in life... someone will always be smarter, richer, funnier, better looking, etc. than you. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. This is life. Your title made it seem like grandparents favored the other cousins or something.

[Anonymous]

Agree this isn't "inequality" - you need to find ways to instill gratitude in your kids. To learn to focus on what they DO have.

Volunteer, remind them that they have so, SO much more than most kids around the world. Don't indulge their questions with long answers - "that's life, kiddo." Long answers will never suffice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

Poor people don't exist as props for your kids' life lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

Poor people don't exist as props for your kids' life lessons.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

Poor people don't exist as props for your kids' life lessons.

They are also not props for religious charities or politicians, or anyone else, and yet. They are part of the world that we live in, far too many middle class kids are completely sheltered and don't know that a different reality exists. There is nothing wrong in teaching them about the world.

[Anonymous]

I thought this was going to be about grandparents treating cousins unequally.

This is just how life is. Some are rich, some are poor. We don't do that because we choose to spend our money differently and we have less of it. But we ALSO have much much more than many people in the world, which makes us incredibly fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with grandparents attempting to even the score between rich and poor cousins. Like giving the poor cousins more time, attention, money, whatever to compensate for the imbalance?

[Anonymous]

If you hide all the facts about money from your kids, and after observing nicer stuff at their cousin's house they question it, I am not surprised.

Time to talk to your kids more about money. Their cousins have more. Your kids can handle why.

It seems like you are having a problem with the relative wealth of the cousins, not your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

Poor people don't exist as props for your kids' life lessons.

+1
homeless shelter is not a zoo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take them to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

This.

Poor people don't exist as props for your kids' life lessons.

+1
homeless shelter is not a zoo

Who needs a homeless shelter. Just walk your kids around downtown DC for awhile. They’ll see plenty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kids are going to have to get used to the fact that there will always be somebody has more and nicer things than they have.

The answer is that their parents can afford those items. We need to stick within our family budget.

This. Not everyone has the same resources. I am actually in the same boat as your brother and SIL. The only difference is both DH and I work. We are able to afford more for our children than my sister and her husband. It is a source of constant comparison. I refuse to feel uncofortable for my quality of life. DH and I earned it, we worked for it, we didn't steal it.