Reply to Raising kids in a competitive UMC community? Would you do it all over again?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are plenty of places in the DC area which are middle class and not competitive UMC environments OP.

[b]You can choose to live in a super competitive school district or go to an expensive private school, or you can live in a less expensive area with decent mid tier public schools[/b], even in the DC area. The choice is yours OP.[/quote]

Not OP, but again, I completely reject this. We moved out to Loudoun County, to a diverse area with middling public schools. Our MS/HS hover around a 4 on Great Schools. While this did maybe result in less academic competition (in numbers of kids, the competitive kids are still competitive), there is still tremendous financial competition. My husband and I call it the "arms race" and its definitely contagious. Some people cannot stand when others have something better than they do and must immediately remedy the situation. Tons of fancy 60-70k SUVs (the latest trend seems to be a fully loaded Tahoe), $100k kitchens, second homes, new cars for teenagers, expensive name brand clothing and shoes (most teens are wearing a sneaker that costs $150+) etc. You would have to be blind or oblivious not to notice. A friend of mine recently told me she no longer wants to host at her home because she is embarrassed that her kitchen is old and not remodeled. [/quote]

I guess you didn’t think about what Loudoun is or why people move there before you chose to settle there. By and large it’s people who wanted a nicer/newer home and to be surrounded by nicer/newer infrastructure (relative to the more established parts of the DC area) but couldn’t afford the areas closer in where larger new homes were/are being built. Loudoun attracts people who place a high value on having nice things. In some cases they value that so much that they were/are willing to put up with a long commute (especially if they moved Covid) and loss of easy access to certain amenities in order to get it. So yeah, you’re going to have enough materialistic people in Loudoun to create the same competitive culture that you get in the rich areas of the closer in places. As PPs have said the most down to earth MC people are in older areas in more modest homes, because their value system does not place a high priority on having a bigger newer house and being surrounded by new things. [/quote]

There is nothing fancy about my neighborhood. I assumed others moved here for the same reason we did - we couldn't afford a SFH any other way. Its not like we have a McMansion. I wish all these strivers would just move up to a fancier neighborhood but instead they are just over-renovating their houses and over-spending on cars and things for their kids. [/quote]

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