Inequality is widening even in middle class children

[Ifelttherainsinafrica]

We live in a nice, mc road. Kids all go to the nice state schools nearby & most of the kids went to activities in the evening. Since September those kids have been out playing since 9 even after dark some as old as 4... I asked dd why her friends were no longer coming to karate & soccer, she said their parents can't afford it.. I met one of our neighbours this evening who said they had to cut right back on extras for the kids due to the cost of living.. Feel so sorry for the kids.. The inequality used be between the working class & middle class now many of the middle class can no longer afford what they used be able to.. Aibu to think this or is it just my perception?

My children prefer free play to organised activities. They have one sport once a week but when I suggested swimming/drama club/ instrument they said no way. We are lucky in that most activites are affordable where I live because tuition fees depend on your income.

I too don't understand why the word class has become focus instead of the point being made that middle class (a term used by the media) is feeling the pinch enough to separate lifestyle of children. It's not a comparison to another group and to use the term deprivation would be ridiculous. If the OP had said people in the middle deciles of deprivation using IMD 2021 are..... would it be making the same point and as clear?

There's struggling and there's letting your 4 yo roam the streets at 9 pm.

We're working class and DD never did that.

Decreasing standards of living across all of society is a bad thing no matter what people started off with, surely.
An economically rich nation like uk should be able to afford to provide kids with affordable swim lessons etc in my view.

You might be onto something there😂

But what sort of hobby though - are some hobbies more middle class than others? Are some downright working class? I mean, one wouldn't want to indulge in the wrong sort of hobby, would one?

🤣🤣🤣 I thought it was just me

Soccer. Right.

Thoughts and prayers to you and your street in such hard times 🥲

No one is immune. Things have changed. A war in Europe drives up prices. The rebalancing and cessation of printing money was always going to be painful.

Soccer?? Wow you really are middle class

Right? That doesn't look anything like my working class childhood or WC neighbourhood that I've lived in.

It's only because academics and writers almost exclusively hail from the middle classes that they have this complex striation of middle class. Lower middle class, middle middle class and upper middle class. And they can sniff out the box each live in with a surname, a school, a hobby or the name of their tea 🤣

Meanwhile, the working classes are all lumped in together as though we are some amorphous other which is assumed to operate on a singular mode. Sometimes they throw in a bone and identify an 'underclass', which makes for better telly.

Anyway, anyone who left their small child roaming about, unsupervised and in the dark would meet the same scorn among the vast majority of the working class families as those from the middle classes.

Im not sure being able to go to karate or not is ‘inequality’ as such.

A lot of people are struggling with the cost of living - high housing costs, mortgages much higher than a few years ago, inflation and usually wages haven’t gone up as much.

I think a lot of people are chipping away at luxuries (or just any unnecessary spending) to offset these increases in daily costs.

Another half term?
🤯😁

@Ablondiebutagoody
That game you play with a ball.

This.

Yes its a strangely worded thread but I guess the point is even people who say have well paid jobs might not be able to afford the opportunities for their kids you'd expect. Things like high mortgage rates have impacted people from all walks of life.

@orangejacketlamp

Soccer?? Wow you really are middle class

How's that middle class?

Class aside. I agree more people are starting to feel the COL and therefore more middle earners are dipping into poverty. It’s no surprise really. Everything is so bloody expensive.

Indeed.

Sod the starving poor who scrape by in rented accommodation in 'not nice' streets.

Good grief @Ifelttherainsinafrica have a word with yourself

Yes the middle class have become the new working class and the working class have become the new poor.

Funny how the rich have stayed exactly the same 🤔

What a weird post.

My feral kids sometimes play in the street.

It's just hard cos with our £100k salary we still can't afford a sports coach ;)

It’s a type of football, as opposed to rugby football (the superior type of football).

I bet those high mortgage rates aren't on a one bedroom mouldy/damp flat though, in a not so great area, are they?

Or if that's too much of a race to the bottom, a terraced house/flat with either just enough room or a bit less for the number of occupants.

That's not my point. My point is they used to be able to attend sports & activities now they are no longer able to as their parents need to cut back.

Jesus. What rock have you been living under. The majority of us are cutting back. A few years ago we would have takeaways weekly. Days out at the zoo/ theme parks regularly without even thinking about it. We simply cannot affford it anymore. Life's tough the majority of us peasants.