The Plague & Privilege of Childhood Poverty

. People who don't realize that others don't have the benefits of experience irritate me. Our principal is bad to remind the kids to use "restaurant manners" in the cafeteria. That's fine, except the portion of the student population that causes the issues don't even know what that means/have never been to or been shown how to behave in a restaurant. Last year, I had a fourth grade girl ask me what gold was in science class. The concept was absolutely foreign to her. Experiences don't have to be elaborate trips and such. Anything outside of the day to day/mundane can be an experience. Where children are concerned its just a matter of effort.

 

Easy is not a word that should apply here. PonyBoy Curtis said it best when he finally figured out "things are tough all over."

Certainly money doesn't mean better as many have said, but I don't buy easier either, unless we're talking destitute. The vast, vast majority of Americans have enough to avoid true hardship for kids.

 

Easier is hardly debatable, unlike better, even though I think that better certainly applies. There have been numerous life decisions I have made that would've made my life easier and better were I to have more resources available. The fact that many people piss away money when they get it doesn't change the fact that having money gives them a great opportunity for a better and easier life. Whether that pertains to leisure time, educational advancement, medical procedures, peace of mind, etc., etc., the possibilities are no doubt greater with a six figure salary than a five figure one.

 

If a better life is independent of money earned, why would making $20K signify that one is a loser? Shouldn't those that make $20K have those that have good lives interspersed with those that are shitty losers?

 

And please forgive me, all, if I made it seem that way. Taking your kids to the UT Arboretum in Oak Ridge, a baseball game at Lindsey Nelson, a walk around the block, anything, is all important. However, setting aside a few days a year and going somewhere is also important, imho. Doesn't have to be a ski trip in the Swiss Alps, it can just be an overnight tent camp at Big Ridge.

 

Yeah.

 

You can sell me on that for $50k, but not $20k. Am I'm not talking about your grandmother. I'm talking about your average 40 year old making $20k.

 

That's kind of what I was getting at. I don't think you need to make big money to take the kids camping for a week or whatever.

 

They certainly don't have to be elaborate. I agree that anything that takes you outside what you have previously known is a good thing.

 

Awesome. I really like reading this kind of stuff. I guess I'm a student of lifestyles, I grew up poor but didn't really know it until I was grown. We had one vehicle when I was growing up (a '71 Dodge truck) but I had most of the same G.I.Joes as everybody else so I figured we was all the same. We should start a thread on this kind of subject.

 

I never left the country till I was 25. Of course that's a tad different from people I knew who had never seen the ocean despite living 20 miles from it.

 

I would never say I grew up poor, but we weren't loaded. All I think about how parents sacrifice about kids comes from my dad driving four hours on Christmas Eve to get me a Stretch Armstrong when I was young. I didn't ask for much as a kid, but mom and dad killed themselves to give me what I did wanted.

 

Sounds like a plan

 

I'm not saying you have to be Anthony Bourdain. I'm just saying you can't be someone who thinks the entire world consists of a 50 mile radius.

 

Mine did the same and we had no idea we were the poorest kids out our school or that money mattered. I didn't know that other people ate differently daily. I didn't know my clothes were cheap or hand me downs. I do know my dad worked his ass off to make sure it was different for me, but he also told me to get college figured out, cause he wasn't bothering with paying. He probably would have but I thought he was serious.

I can't imagine calling what I had as a kid "hard" or what the Sosh's had easy. We were kids being kids and not caring about money. My limited Christmases didn't mean a thing.

 

On the other hand you did grow up with white privilege.

 

We didn't have money but we weren't poor.

 

I feel the same way 53.

 

i was born a poor black child

 

It certainly paid huge dividends for my sister and I, when we were two of the only 3-4 white kids amongst 25 black kids. I never considered that it was my color which made me stand out, believing that it was my comparatively excellent athleticism, instead. In my neighborhood, I was easily in the Top 30 of kids at any sport, so long as no more than 29 other kids were playing.

A quick aside - this conversation brings to mind the episode several months ago, when some schlep (since departed, maybe Limp or Jewie?) told me that my "problem" was that I "didn't know enough black people", or "should make more black friends" or some similar nonsense. I didn't want to say all of this then, because while true, it was all-too-convenient (and I didn't think that they were worth it, whomever they were), but it's certainly the reason why I gave such a genuinely irritated response. People don't always know others as well as they think, or assume too much about them, in general.