No need to eye roll & be snarky thanks, I’m sure we can have an adult conversation - even if we disagree with each other - without resorting to passive aggressive emojis.
She calls it “free time” so presumably they had a lot of free time if they could go to watch matches every week.
Well like you say that’s your presumption, for all we know it wasn’t so much free time as time they made free i.e. they took time out to attend her events but then perhaps had to catch up with work into the night to make up for it or whatever. Like I said, none of us were there however Kate - who was there - seems to view it as a sacrifice on their part so I’ll go with her recollection & take it at face value, who am I to say otherwise.
Parents whose children are at boarding school have a lot more free time than parents with children at home…
You seem to have forgotten that there are 2 younger Middleton siblings; Pippa is only a year younger than Kate but James is 6 years younger; none of the Middleton kids boarded until secondary so for the majority of the time Kate was boarding, they had one child at home so by your own reasoning, they would indeed have had less free time then.
On the face of it, it looks like they were attending Kate’s events weekly, attending Pippa’s events weekly, had a primary aged child at home & were also growing a successful business that would have needed a lot of time if you look at where Party Pieces was at that point & what it became. Then you have the rest of life’s crap.
Now do I think they deserve a medal? No. But neither do I think it’s a race to the bottom & just because they were more privileged than most, it means they didn’t have their own hardships in their own way.
Anyway, how is it a sacrifice to give up your free time to go socialise with other parents and see your DC? Surely those are pleasurable things to do in your spare time? It is nice that they went to every match but hardly a huge sacrifice. It will have been as much of a social event as a sporting event… Maybe lunch with parent friends, perhaps a school reception or afternoon tea with the DC afterwards.
Again those are all presumptions on your part, there’s nothing to say that they did socialise with other parents or attend lunches, receptions & afternoon teas afterwards. You’re painting a leisurely picture but for all we know, they went to the sporting events, cheered Kate on in the stands & then had to dash off to pick up James, attend a work meeting etc. Like I said in my earlier post, we don’t what their life was like at that point, what commitments they had etc. Just like your version of events are possible, it’s also possible that they had packed busy days & really made an effort to fit everything in which is what Kate appreciates.
It’s also a presumption that they even had parent friends; even though they had money at that point, it’s possible in my experience that they could have been looked down on by some parents due to their humble beginnings so no, it may not have been a pleasurable experience for them like you’re suggesting; it certainly wasn’t for my parents for that very reason. Again who knows, it’s all just speculation. Kate seems to appreciate the effort they made, so great.
You’re right, I wasn’t there at the time. I left school a year or 2 before she started. IME, parents often came to matches if they could, although not every week.
Well that wasn’t my experience or the experience of another poster on this thread but that doesn’t make any of us wrong.
Kate’s perception of her childhood is hers alone, I wasn’t there so I’m not going to rubbish it. If she thinks her parents made sacrifices, okay then. The important thing is she had a lovely childhood.