To think actually some of it is about choices?

I’m sure you understood my point perfectly well
What a comedian 😂😂👏🏻👏🏻

Agree.

My dc are very lucky and have a stereotypical middle class upbringing full of library trips, museum visits, bedtime stories, theatres, galleries, concerts etc.

DC2 is summer born and finished Reception still on CVC words.
DC 3 was still wayyyyy behind his cohort all of KS1, really struggled to read at all, had concentration issues and speech delay. Covid massively disadvantaged him and only once he could be properly assessed and supported did he make progress.

Their theatre trips did not equate to academic progress at all!!

Quite a leap there from 5 to 14.

Other ages are available 🤣

I kinda agree with this! What has benefited my kids the most, and what they've enjoyed the most, is the trips up mountains, learning to paddle board independently, going camping, climbing, mountain biking, foraging, identifying mushrooms and berries, wild swimming etc. etc. Where we live this is our 'cultural capital' and it's hugely beneficial.

I grew up going to museums and plays and art galleries from a young age and I've tried to offer my kids some of that, but they would rather be in a wetsuit or in a climbing harness. Neither type of activity will make them brighter, but both add value.

Don't get too caught up on theater, is I guess what I'm trying to say @Shdk136

Look, if in a few years the kid still hasn’t done anything that can be construed as “cultural capital” (theatre or not) , then you can judge fret.

Is this a wind up post? Because what has a 5 year old’s exposure to the theatre got to do with their ability to decode phonics, form letters and do maths?

Maybe the tracksuit thing was an excuse. An hour’s drive (each way?) would put me off too if it wasn’t for something that interested me.
Or maybe she doesn’t really like the Mum who invited her. Or maybe she couldn’t envisage her 5 year old sitting still for what would amount to about 4 hours on a warm sunny day when they could be doing something more active outdoors. Or they had something else planned but didn’t want to say. What play was it anyway that would appeal to a 5 year old?

Look, if in a few years the kid still hasn’t done anything that can be construed as “cultural capital” (theatre or not) , then you can judge fret.

Look, if in a few years the kid still hasn’t done anything that can be construed as “cultural capital” (theatre or not) , then you can judge fret.

Everyone spends their money on different things. She probably feels sorry for you wasting your money on theatre tickets instead of holidays and nice clothes.

Arh, so 'Essentials' is actually a proper noun, which, when treated as such, changes the meaning completely from what you've typed. Perhaps you could have done with a few more cultural trips out yourselves, OP! 😂

I wouldn't ever spend hundreds of pounds on a tracksuit for a child and definitely wouldn't prioritise that over a theatre trip, however I don't know that you can trust a fellow five year old's appraisal of her child's educational progress!

You’re calling a 5yr old not so
bright? have a word with yourself, you sound insufferable.

Cultural capital doesn't equal or lead to being 'less behind' ins school through.

My kids have been to tons of museums, including some of the world's great art museums. They are exposed to books, music, travel, live music - not so much theater as it's expensive and harder to get to. A lot of their friends have not had the same opportunities, but my kids aren't smarter than them as a result. It doesn't work like that, which is a really good thing

DD started at 12. It happened. It’s still happening. Not terribly often, but it is.

Are you sure the tracksuit is Essentials the brand and not (for example) Asda essentials?

wasnt it a tracksuit, rather than a holiday?

Would it? I was given all of this ‘exposure’ by a vile mother who made awful judgments about other people and had airs and graces. I firmly rejected this ‘culture’ as a result because I couldn’t stand her holier than thou attitude towards others.

If you dont start at 5 try introducing theatre at 14. It wont happen.

Whonwpuld tale a 5 year old to watch a cultral experience when they will be bored or restless
We all learn differently so being "bright" is judged on what excatly?
If i had to put money towards a up coming holiday than a cultral experience I would be guessing the child is 'exposed' to rral life and more interesting experiences.
What a pathetic post.

A pantomime is a trip to the theatre though , local theatres have loads of plays on aimed at children. Fir example my local theatre has The Gruffalo on in half term

Not judging but judging. Ok

I think you dibt realise that you’re coming from a place where you don’t HAVE to make these choices. So you are in the fortunate position of calling it ‘choice’ without actually having to live it. And then hear pious twits tell you that you ‘made’ a choice

I wouldn't take my 5yo to a theatre an hour's drive away either, not because of the money but because he gets car sick and would struggle to sit still in a theatre for the duration of a normal show (unless it was a short kids' show?), he'd be asking me questions the entire way through and bothering other audience members, and I'd be worried there might be content he wasn't emotionally mature enough to deal with unless it was a show I'd already seen. None of those reasons have anything to do with depriving him of cultural experiences, in fact we go to museums, art galleries and concerts, travel to different countries, and he speaks two languages. Why assume this parent doesn't know what's best for her child?