Not The Onion @lemmy.world return2ozma @lemmy.world 2mo ago

I thought I was giving my kids the best childhood ever until my 4-year-old asked why we didn't own a 'bigger golf cart'

www.businessinsider.com I thought I was giving my kids the best childhood ever until my 4-year-old asked why we didn't own a 'bigger golf cart'

My family lives in an affluent area, but I don't want my kids to take money for granted. I'm taking four steps to teach them good financial habits.

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This is a fluff piece written by someone in a rich bubble.

The 2 year old and 4 year old have no concept of money, the 4 year old did not "do most of the work" in a lemonade stand, and they do not have "their own money" to spend. Picking up after yourself and putting dishes in the sink are not chores, and kids this age aren't taking out the trash - of course they enjoy it when mummy does it and makes a big deal of how grown up the kids are for helping, and probably rewards then for it.

None of the ideas are innovative or relevant to most parents, and particularly not with a kids that age. This is just one rich bored parent with young kids sharing their "experiences". Pretty out of touch with reality.
- $150 a month for her dog's health insurance...
  
  And she's calling herself "middle class" like she lives in the burbs....
  
  The wealthy always think of themselves as "middle class" because they know people wealthier.
  
  Just because billionaires exist doesn't mean millionaires who take annual child free vacations are suddenly "middle class".
  
  They just don't want to actually admit they're wealthy and wasting a shit ton of money that should be going to taxes.
  
  I worry that she actually is "middle class" and the wealth disparity has moved to the point that those of us who cannot spend $150 on pet insurance or drop $750,000+ on a house or $100,000 on a truck are effectively "poor", at least as far as the market is concerned.
  
  Erm, not arguing that this lady is middle class, but dog insurance cost is not remotely relevant to that lol. I pay that for my dog and make less than 6 figures. My dog is just really important to me, and our last dog cost us thousands and thousands of dollars on vet bills. I'm not going to be blindsided dropping $5k in a day on vet bills again. Our dog has insurance because it seems like the financially responsible thing to do, especially when your dog is extremely active and engaging in sports that it may be injured doing.
  
  So-called upper middle class: "I'm middle class because there are people richer than me"
  
  So-called lower middle class: "I'm middle class because there are people poorer than me"
  
  IMO the middle class is an illusion
  
  I can't afford $150 for my own health insurance
  
  What if how she lives is the way middle class should be? Like, we want to create a system where most people live this way (or have the option to).
  
  Depends on your measure of middle, I bet median would be pretty low but average is still probably way higher than most people.
  
  Wealth gap has never been worse
  
  That last sentence is odd. What do you mean should be going to taxes? Sounds like you define wealthy by what taxes they pay. I know the billionaires have lots of loopholes to pay a lower percent, is using those loopholes your deciding factor?
  
  Idk why you guys are so obsessed about millionaires here. We aren’t some evil devils that you can put all the blame for your problems on. It’s just life some are wealthier some are poorer. It was like that since forever and it will be like this forever except in this system you also have a chance for success unlike feudalism where everything was 100% predetermined.
  
  In literally every system that ever existed there was someone wealthier and someone poorer what matters is the dynamics, can the poorer become wealthy, can the wealthy lose money if they stop being productive proportionally to their wealth? This is the problem
- "Look! My kids are almost like other kids, except they're spoiled-wealthy-at-birth!"
  
  --businessinsider.com
  
  Every parent wants to spoil their kids. So they have it better than they had at their age. It’s just how it is. Your parents couldn’t afford Lego? You will buy the biggest set etc
- I looked for past articles from her on Business Insider. She is middle class, like rest of us. Which middle class person doesn't hire an accountant and spend $1000 per month to make parenting easy!
  
  Lol, have you seen the cost of daycare... $1000 per month easy in most cities. Probably not what you meant, but it still made me laugh.
  
  She has a job and 2 kids in child care age. $25 a day seems reasonable even cheap to maintain her career. And if an accountant can pay for themselves on a journalists salary then she should right?
I was pleasantly surprised by this sentence:

But I made it a point to explain [to my children] that while sometimes being homeless can be a result of not making good choices, sometimes it's a result of not having good choices.

It smacks of empathy, which is more than I expected. Whatever one may think of the author, she’s trying to teach her children to be better, and that counts for something.
This is so tone deaf and privileged. Fuck this woman and this article.
Nothing funnier than seeing a bunch of Lemmings argue about the definition of middle class.
So many humans are so incredibly bad at being content with what they have - the grass is always greener on the other side...
Time to abandon the family and start a new one

86 comments