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I never said cheapest route possible. Cheapest route possible would be dropping kids off wherever/whenever with whoever, buying a former crack house in the ghetto for $10k, keeping them alive on Ramen Noodles, not taking them to the doctor, etc.
You ignored the question. Clearly because it must very telling. So I will ask once more to see if you have any intellectual integrity.
What do you do with all of this money you have saved by going , let's say, the average route then?
You ignored the question. Clearly because it must very telling. So I will ask once more to see if you have any intellectual integrity.
What do you do with all of this money you have saved by going , let's say, the average route then?
The great thing about internet message boards is that you may completely ignore all the comments, questions, etc. including from control freaks who apparently think they are owed a response!
Another thread I made about how raising a child doesn't have to be terribly expensive drew a lot of criticism.
It seems that some people hold the opinion that being content with what you've provided your child (unless it's the best) is a disservice to that child. They feel that a parent should constantly strive to provide better, better, better for the child. This could be in the form of better schools, better neighborhoods, better city, a slew of extracurricular activities, the best ranked childcare providers, the best foods, clothing, medical care, etc, etc.
My question is - is it OK to be content with what you've provided for child? For example:
- child attends an average public in the state (a mix of poor, working class and middle class families)
- family lives in an average (or even below average) home in a working class/average neighborhood/city (not dangerous, but not the safest)
- child wears relatively modest clothing (perhaps even some hand-me-downs)
- child receives 2 or 3 star childcare instead of 5 star
- child doesn't have access to all extracurricular activities/tutoring and parents probably can't afford to pay for all college expenses
Is it somehow morally wrong for this parent to be satisfied with what they've provided (i.e. calling it good enough and enjoying life) or should they constantly strive/work hard/stress to provide their child with something better?
Where do you draw the line between fanatical and satisfied?
Well since most people live in those conditions, they can't be all too bad. Sometimes wanting the "best" says more about insecurity of the parent than the happiness/success of the child.
"Doing better" is such a difficult thing to quantify. Yes, we could make more money if I went back to work, but we already have a very comfortable lifestyle with everything we need and quite a bit of what we want. So would we be doing better? Hard to say. The savings account would be larger, and we might take slightly more extravagant vacations, but there would be additional stress from trying to handle more demands on our time, which might outweigh the increased slack in our budget.
Last edited by randomparent; 08-15-2014 at 10:00 PM..
How much they eat is of lesser importance - WHAT you feed them is more important. Are you cooking very filling/affordable foods at home or are you eating at restaurants 5-6x/week? The staple foods like pasta, rice, beans, corn, potatos, etc are pretty cheap and filling. Fruits are often cheaper snacks than prepacked sweets.
The cheap Baptist day care was just an example. Plenty of other non-religious day cares exist which are comparable in price. Granted, to me, religious affiliation doesn't matter too much - especially for infants. Most of the workers are no more or less religious than those working in a non-church day care. But that's beside the point.
I wont knock anyone for living in the burbs with good schools, but I also wont knock someone that's perfectly content with living in a working class neighborhood with just average schools. I believe both people can raise well adjusted/happy children.
What's my point? My point is that some people like to turn their nose up at anything that is below their "standards" for raising a child. Goodwill....uhh, what kind of parent does that? In home day care...uhh, you are potentially harming your child. Working class neighborhood....uhh, you should work a little harder and try to get to a better area. Oh, so you have the ability to do better, but you're satisfied...WHY are you "skimping".
I cook filling meals at home.
The cheap baptist day care was your only example.
Who are these people turning their noses up? Skimping is not what someone is doing if they are providing the best they can for their child.
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Originally Posted by maciesmom
And some other people like to turn their nose up at people who spend money in ways they don't understand or can't afford themselves. Guess what? It's none of your business how other people spend their money.
this
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Originally Posted by eddiehaskell
For arguments sake, lets assume someone in this world has that mindset. This is more of a hypothetical rather than an attack on a specific individuals viewpoint. Capiche?
Why would we assume that? You said some people do this. Now you say you made the whole thing up.
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Originally Posted by randomparent
I live within my means and provide for my children as such, and I'm content with that. Hopefully, the same is the case for others. There is really nothing to argue about here.
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Originally Posted by eddiehaskell
Just curious. How do you rationalize being capable of doing better for them, but deciding not to?
Changing sides, I see. First you wanted people to be satisfied being average. Now you want people to do better. I think you just like to argue. Why else would someone start 2 threads trying to convince parents that having kids doesn't really cost much?
Having kids costs a lot if you do it "average" and even more if you try to do it "top of the line". I did a mix because by virtue of where I lived I got above average amenities like schools, safety, etc. but me and my kids were average anyway. Money didn't just get spent on them just because we had it, we usually needed for other things. Public schools, cheaper public colleges, no college funds, and so on. Picking and choosing is how it's done.
So you pick the single model with the narrowest non household income model even though we are talking about families. And of married couples, 2/3 both work. That makes as much sense as this thread.
Did you read the entire passage namely this part:
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As 42% of all households, and the majority of those in the top 40%, had two income earners, household income figures would be significantly higher, ranging from roughly $50,000 to $100,000 annually.[13] In terms of educational attainment, 27% of persons had a Bachelor's degree or higher.
It is perfectly conceivable that a married couple in which one is a teacher/nurse/plumber have a combined income of less than $100k. This is especially true for parents who are usually in their 20s or early 30s. At this age, people have little experience and usually fall into the lower range of pay for their given occupation. For example, a teacher with 4 years of experience (probably 26-27 yrs old...perfect child bearing age) makes about 32k in my state whereas a teacher with 20 years experience may make $50k.
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Even so let's use your model for a second. Can you do math? Is 65k more or less than 60?
No need to be rude. Look at the date from Wiki - 2005. The BLS number you provided was from 2011. That a gap of six years.
Regardless, why are you fixated on whether $65k is "middle class" or "lower middle class" (rather arbitrary labels)? Are you a nurse or something? I know some people get offended by being labeled "lower" anything.
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