Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

To think you don't need to be a maths whizz to be chancellor of the exchequor and to be annoyed with ex mil?

38 replies

theduchessstill · 29/05/2018 19:15

Have just got the dc back from a visit to ex mil's with their father.

Ds1 has been quite subdued and I have just found out that it is because he told ex mil his ambition is to be chancellor and she has told him that he is not good enough at maths for that. I obviously don't know the exact words she said but that is the gist of it and he clearly feels cold water has been poured over his hopes.

I'm annoyed because who does that to an 11yr old? I'm not one for telling dc they can do absolutely anything they want if they just believe, but he is good at bloody maths! In the top group, exceeding expectations and often getting full marks or dropping just a couple of marks on practice SATs papers. She may not know that, and he prefers English/writing, but why say it if you don't have all the facts?

Also, I don't think chancellors are generally maths obsessives are they? Other skills are involved, as well as luck, and ds may well not make it to that particular role, but cutting him down like that is unnecessary imo. I'm pissed off with ex in general, but wibu to have a word? I know from when we were married he is well aware of his mother's propensity to negativity and it annoys him, so he may well like to know this. And I'd like her to be told not to piss on my dc's fireworks all the time (she has form, obviously).

OP posts:

AsAProfessionalFekko · 29/05/2018 19:20

Why piss on any suggestion of an 11 year old? As long as the don't say that their burning ambition is to be a mass murderer or pole dancer.

Good for him! Aim high - DS wanted to be the president of the US when he was about 4. I didn't feel the need to tell him that it wasn't all that likely.

cathcath2 · 29/05/2018 19:26

Seriously? He's 11. They all say things they are not likely to be at that age. One 11-year-old child I know told me she was going to be Prime Minister and give everyone a free puppy. I was like . I didn't tell her she couldn't be though. I did tell her she couldn't be President of the USA - she thought that was unfair!
At 11, I would be pleased he knows what a chancellor does!

Bowlofbabelfish · 29/05/2018 19:26

George osbourne has a 2:1 in modern history and never held down a proper job outside politics. His main qualifications appear to be a solid line of descent from Tudor nobility and a well connected mummy.

Your child might actually be more capable now ;)

Aim high kid. No you don’t need to be a maths whizz.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 29/05/2018 19:27

George has Lord accountant bezzie mates.

redexpat · 29/05/2018 19:28

Tell him to aim for PM instead

noblegiraffe · 29/05/2018 19:31

Good on him. I can’t see many 11 year olds looking at Philip Hammond as a role model, so at least he’s original!

Thesearepearls · 29/05/2018 19:31

Obviously exDMIL is bonkers. Fine to tell him at the age of 11 that he's probably not going to be an olympic gymnast. Absolutely not fine to shatter any other hopes.

You cannot tell how primary school children will develop. At the age of 11 DD was acing primary school. In secondary school, she developed a love of parties and the academics suffered. DS meanwhile bumbled along in all the bottom sets through primary school and suddenly hit an academic growth spurt in secondary school to the extent he's a bit awe-inspiring now.

CloudCaptain · 29/05/2018 19:33

An English person could possibly become the president of the US though. It's not probable but it could happen. Yanbu about negative Nelly.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 29/05/2018 19:35

Do you have to had been born on the US though? Isn't that what all the Obama hoo ha was about?

waxy1 · 29/05/2018 19:37

John Major was Chancellor and he failed the maths test to be a bus conductor.

Original poster

theduchessstill · 29/05/2018 19:38

Yes, it's annoying that his background and the schools he has attended/will attend rule him out more than his actual ability. He doesn't need a gran who pours cold water on his ambitions to add to the obstacles that are already there.

His role model is most certainly not Philip Hammond, giraffe. He had a top ten chancellor list and I don't remember it, but Gordon Brown was 4th and Lloyd George top!

OP posts:

dailymailsucksbigtime · 29/05/2018 19:40

and never held down a proper job outside politics

don't be mean- he folded the towels at Peter Jones.

AmazingPostVoices · 29/05/2018 19:42

I think what I would work on with DS is standing up for himself with his negative Grandmother.

He must know himself that he is in fact good at maths. Give him permission to argue (politely) with her next time.

noblegiraffe · 29/05/2018 19:43

He had a top ten chancellor list

Then I suspect he knows far more about it than your MIL! He has obviously done his research!

OutsideContextProblem · 29/05/2018 19:43

Bear in mind that this is hearsay. Are you 100% sure she didn’t just say “well you’re going to have to work really hard on your maths then!”, meaning it in a general “I’m going to use any opportunity I can to encourage you to work hard at school” way?. Sounds like a much more plausible thing for a grandmother to say, especially if a) he is good at Maths b) she doesn’t have a clue whether he’s any good at maths.

Moussemoose · 29/05/2018 19:46

And English person - born in England couldn't be US president. You have to be born on US soil. Hence all the fuss about where Obama was born.

But Your ds could certainly by PM of the U.K. ex mil is wrong to dismiss his ambitions.

Bowlofbabelfish · 29/05/2018 19:48

He had a top ten chancellor list

That is really adorable. He sounds like a kid with character. Why don’t you see if you can find him a little red suitcase?

amazings point is actually very good. What all politicians share is a good dollop of self belief. This is perhaps time for a chat about hard work, believing in oneself, structural equalities in society and how to handle negative criticisms?

BrownTurkey · 29/05/2018 19:51

Some of the people who put us down are the ones who spur us on, inadvertently.

NewYearNewMe18 · 29/05/2018 19:52

George osbourne has a 2:1 in modern history and never held down a proper job outside politics.

He had exactly the same qualifications as Gordon Brown

Mind you,, he was worse.

OutsideContextProblem · 29/05/2018 19:52

The laws aren’t quite as simple as that. Obama’s opponent was born in the Panama Canal.

Bowlofbabelfish · 29/05/2018 19:54

Mind you,, he was worse.

Oh totally. Not arguing that :) I genuinely think some sort of benign technocracy is the way to go some days... Make people who have a portfolio actually have some experience in the area. Shocking I know...

ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 29/05/2018 20:02

Oh I hate people who piss on kids’ chips! My dad is a total pessimist and will find a problem with every single plan you put to him. I still to this day have his voice in my head saying “don’t be silly, you couldn’t do that! [insert reason]” I honestly think it has pmayed a huge part in me being utterly lacking in any ambition or having a career. (A opposed to a job) as a result I tell my DCs “that’s a brilliant idea, you’d be great at that job because X, Y and Z” maybe I’m kidding myself and it doesn’t make a difference but at least they’re walking away feeling like they can do whatever they want to do.

LegallyBrunet · 29/05/2018 20:05

I thought you had to be a US Citizen for fifteen years to be President?

noblegiraffe · 29/05/2018 20:05

Obama’s opponent was born in the Panama Canal.

Taking a waterbirth a bit too far.

edwinbear · 29/05/2018 20:08

The civil servants in the treasury do all the number crunching surely?

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread