We moved from a near-by town to a village in the country. The local school results were good, and that was our priority at the time. The village looks lovely. We moved to a smallish 3-bed semi on a little close, which was in a bad state and needed lots of work. We've now been there 4 years and I've been feeling more and more miserable. The work has not been done on the house (money/time).
I did not realise how affluent the area is. At first I though 'so what?'. I'm not a jealous type or materialistic. But as time has gone on I've realised more and more just how we stick out like a sore thumb. At my DDs school, literally every child lives in massive houses with expensive cars. As we did play-dates, I kept expecting to find one or a couple of other kids living in a house similar to ours, but no, they are all seriously minted.
My kids are noticing it. Even though I keep explaining that these families have bigger houses because both parents work (although not all do), and that money and thing don't make you happy, I can see it affects them, and they feel different. They say things like:
"Can we have a playroom?", "Our house is as big as this (to the other childs' parent)", "Why is our house so small?", "I want to live in X's house", "They have loads of toys, why don't we?". "Why do we only have toilet and they have 4?", "Are we going to get a big garden?"
I know I should not let it bother me, but I think this feeling has built up over time. I am embarrassed to have other Mums round on playdates because our house is also very tatty inside. I feel like I'm starting to get jealous, or competitive and not content with what I've got - which is so unlike me.
And I know people are going to say, perhaps these people are in debt, or unhappy, but no, some are happy and just have very good jobs! Can anyone else relate?