Cultural Capital - what do you do in your household?

[californiagurl]

We have a huge range of books, frequent theatre visits (although these have been online in recent times), visits to art galleries/exhibitions, support with learning languages.

What's anyone else up to?

My kids are still quite young but I look forward to doing cultured things with them when they are off age. We are do speak 2 languages at home.

Fair enough Frost, you have to admit though, it does sound a bit wanky.

I don't think anyone would disagree that narrowing the gap isn't a good thing.

This thread is hilarious!

All graduates in our house. We love a bit of Netflix, and my kids still play Pokemon.

Was wondering if/when somebody would mention the Sistine Screamer

@FlyMayBe

This thread is hilarious!

All graduates in our house. We love a bit of Netflix, and my kids still play Pokemon.

Was wondering if/when somebody would mention the Sistine Screamer

Cannot believe nobody beat me to it.

But which culture @californiagurl?
YANBU to expose children to cultural heritage, just be careful that it doesn’t blind them to other cultures riches.

I fart then laugh.

@MutteringDarkly

Hold on, it's too complicated for me.... does it mean....um.....writing YOGHURT instead of yoghurt?

(Seriously, share your enthusiasm for what you genuinely love - not what you think you "should" love - with your children, and be open to following their interests too. That's it really.)

too funny.

My favourite moment with dc in an art gallery was when we were in the modern art/installation/things written on the wall/room and I noticed the security guard cracking up because dd2 aged 6 was gazing thoughtfully and appreciatively at the exit sign over the door.

@Frost1nMay

Cultural Capital has now been explicitly written into the early years foundation stage curriculum and it is also now in the national curriculum, so yeah you might sneer at the OP, but it is a big thing in education at the moment.

In Early Years it is being interpreted as Narrowing the Gap for children and valuing what each and every child brings with them as a unique child. So a child might live in a flat and have no outside garden so the setting offer a gardening space and grow plants.

Yep, and the difference in cultural capital is at the heart of many educational attainment differences.

Someone did make a good point upthread that children need cultural capital for their peers too though, and it shouldn't be underestimated. I certainly lacked for peer to peer cultural capital when I was young (still do, in fact), though I could name all the Greek Gods, etc.

Sadly I think a lot of the people sneering at the OP WILL provide great cultural capital to their kids - and not appreciate the staggering lack there can be because of poverty. My sister has to teach a class of kids a seaside theme when half of them don't even have the basic experience of having been to the beach, or history when they've never been to a castle - and therefore find themselves expending mental effort in learning things that are already natural to their peers.

(hell, I saw real glaciers and glacial features for the first time aged thirty and finally got enthused by glaciation!)

My youngest tries to paint my nails every now and again but I do explain how that will lead to nothing in life.

WTF is cultural capital?
If you mean, what do we spend our leisure time doing, it depends how we feel. Sometimes we sit stuffing our faces in front of the TV while watching Googlebox or a high brow documentary, and sometimes we frequent museums and concert halls or vulgar low brow stand up comedy shows.

We did all sorts with my DD over her 13 years, both the London Tates, museums, theatre, and basically all she does now is stare at Tiktok and plan Bubble Tea trips.
We probably overdid the art but DH and I really love galleries so she came along with us. She will tell you that the hates Agnes Martin and will only step into a gallery now if bribed with something from the shop.

@thecatsthecats so agree with your post. I think if you have cultural capital you don’t realise how valuable it is, hence some of the sneering, but yeah, it’s make or break in some school subjects imo.

I've been watching star trek, all of it, but not in order. it's taking bloody ages. I can't believe it's possible to watch more star trek than this and I haven't even started on voyager yet

I thought it meant culture in London.
Apparently not.

Wikipedia says
In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society.

But the OP isn't anything to do with how to raise cultural appreciation and knowledge among disadvantaged children.

The term cultural capitall is used academically and in education and it is shown to be an advantage as these pursuits can and do enhance certain subjects and learning. It might sound wanky when used in EVERYDAY speech. But it is a thing. We tend to call it privilege for e ample children who hear a rich vocabulary, are included in conversations, who read who are asked to consider drama or films all build up thinking and critical skills. And this then can be reflected in essays or discussions. Tbe idea of culture is of course seen as predominately middle class but really can be anything that involves engagement.

@4cats2kids

I fart then laugh.

Sheba I agree. So for example, I work with disadvantaged kids but ensure they get to go to theatre, pantomime at Christmas. We provide lots of activities around books, getting workshops from writers, having an artist in residence etc. I'm in Ireland in a school which receives funding for such things.

@4cats2kids

I fart then laugh.

I pee when I sneeze - or take a Covid throat swab - which was nice!

Nothing, we are heathen philistines.

Well, I am.

DH isn't. He likes churches and castles and theatre.

But we don't and never have gone to the theatre as a family, unless you count a few pantomimes and Fireman Sam when ds was 3 (he has been a couple of times on school trips).

Definitely not opera.

I used to go to concerts but it's too much hassle unless you live in the city where the performances are taking place in terms of getting home afterwards etc.

I've encouraged ds with learning language and DH talks to him about castles and history - and football.

I have to say I think "cultural capital" is a bit of a nonsense. It does seem a bit "off" to say if you like opera you are cultured but if you prefer sport you're not. Isn't it just about interests in life? I love reading maps - other people like train or plane spotting or collecting coins or lego models. Any interest is valid, even if it is boring to others. And I agree it's helpful to know about the latest soap or GBBO or GoT or Strictly.

What is actually a skill is being able to be interested in people and their interests, even if you're not interested in the same things yourself.

I would question how important "culture" is when compared to many other topics.

Basic atomic theory? Electromagnetic spectrum? Biodiversity?
I would suggest these are at least as essential as "culture" for children.

I leave DS at home with DH, go to the theatre or nice restaurants with a friend and return home having drunk far too much.

It's hard work maintaining a cultured household when you live with philistines but someone's got to do it!

To give some perspective on this, I have worked with children who had never been to the cinema until we took them at Secondary school. We had to teach kids what the cinema was. They weren’t children who had severe learning needs, they had just never been and didn’t understand the concept. It doesn’t have to be the ballet and the opera it can be stuff most parents do without even thinking about it. However if you’re already hitting the basics I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing things with the explicit aim of ‘giving’ your kids cultural capital. It might be a bit old fashioned now to think of it this way but my grandad, who left school at 13 and started out as a miner, made a real effort to give my mum a ‘middle class’ Education- museums, books etc -that he never had, but she will still talk about how she was introduced to things she would never otherwise have come across because she had a friend whose parents were established middle class and ‘just knew’ a lot of things that essentially made their lives easier In terms of accessing Higher education And jobs.

I thought I was being a great parent investing my hard earned capital into their cultural development until my 11 and 10 year old turned around to me while on a gondola in Venice last year and said I don't see what's so great about it, it's just fucking water.

@ChavvySexPond

Cultural capital in our house means reading, discussing, critical thinking, growing up with an understanding of people, technology, maths, history, science. An awareness of cultural traditions such as pancakes and Easter eggs. Being able to distinguish between gossip and opinions and facts. Developing a love of horror novels/singer-songwriters/Forests/David Attenborough/Red Dwarf/Terry Pratchett/ 80s film.

All culture is culture. Not just the paintings and the ballet.

I've found my people! This is so similar to my upbringing, and we "did" the castles, stately homes, museums, art galleries etc - one of my earlier memories was seeing the Tutankhamun exhibition in the early 70's. Our bedtime stories were Classical, Celtic & Norse mythology.

Doesn't mean to say I don't enjoy a good evening watching things like Strictly, GBBO, Ambulance etc.!

So discussion point after reading some of the posts here - when is literature "cultural capital" and when isn't it? Same with exhibitions, same with films, same with performing arts.

War & Peace is considered "culture", but is Tolkein? And if Tolkein IS, then what about more modern literature? British Museum is "culture", but is the Pencil Museum in Cumbria, or the Bakelite Museum in Somerset? Ballet is "culture", and many posters seem to think going to the theatre in general is, but would going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show be considered "cultural"?