To hate materialism/western world and want to live with a remote tribe

[roseability]

Chilrearing seems to be so hard and everyone so unhappy

We must have gone wrong somewhere?

I personally blame capitalism, elitism and modern living/parenting

The thread about women expecting exspensive gifts for giving birth is an example

In some traditional tribes people fulfil their natural purpose and experience true happiness. Mothering is cherised and supported by the community.

Their children seem happier and are less demanding.

They don't lust after diamond rings or push their LOs into hundreds of activities in order to make them better, bigger, stronger.

Just a thought

Just looking around your average school playground and it is pretty obvious that lots of grandparents are very closely involved in looking after their grandchildren. Also, older siblings and in some cases cousins.

Yes - unreasonable to want to live in a remote tribe because your preconceptions of what that means are so wildly, astonishingly rose coloured and naive. Your original post is fairly jaw-dropping.

HOWVER, it is obviously not unreasonable to wish for more community and support around you.

Closer community and remote tribe are not synonyms though.

I can see your point cory, there are probably more similarities than we think with other cultures in terms of child-rearing.
I come from a family where we hardly even know the names of our cousins and where grandparents were dead before most grandchildren were born. My mother struggled a lot I think with having no family around her that could take the burden off once in a while.

And yes the OP shouldn't have mentioned remote tribes as she obviously doesn't have knowledge of what goes on there, but fwiw I think she was more trying to make a point about capitalism and materialism.

I think that the criticism being levelled here against her is quite unfair, and I am not surprised she has gone.

I am critical of materialism and capitalism (affluenza etc are very good books) while recognising that such things as healthcare (which I too would be dead without modern medicine) and education and basic rights are very valuable. I do think many people are too competitive and materialistic (possibly down to capitalism or individualism), so I tend to be friends with those who aren't. I feel I have opted out somewhat. I am a SAHM and live frugally which makes me feel empowered that I am not joining in with empty materialism and am doing what I want even though it is not always the popular way. However, it is difficult to 'opt out' totally. I can see where OP is coming from but there is good and bad to most ways of life. Something I read in a book once (not sure which) has always stuck with me. 'Most people throughout history have read relatively short miserable lives.' So if we can find some happiness in this life then we are getting somewhere. Even life's simple pleasures such as sitting by a fire or eating are really luxuries compared to many people/places. If you enjoy something every day you will feel better!

People defer to Gov and expect the Gov to do it. I don't have a close knit family and am completely unsupported, we had to move a couple of times too so lost friends networks. I don't think our culture is big on family although there are some very close nit families.

Not unreasonable to wish for more community around you. But it won't start until someone does more than wishing for it.

More community means looking around you to see if there is anyone you can help. It's the only way.

Our healthcare system does kill quite a few people too, nearly 40,000 are dead from superbugs ..

doh
here

Just read some more of this thread. Some very sobering posts (fistulas etc) has made me appreciate things here more that's for sure.

oh well that does not affect whether we feel we live in a caring community or not, rebelmum. They're not killing them off on purpose because they dislike people.

I think the only way to develop a caring community is if everyone realises that the whole rest of the community is made up of people like themselves and that noone is under more of an obligation to be caring than you are. Or more positively, we are under an equal obligation to everybody else. Particularly when we have children- we can make a massive difference through the behaviour we model.

There are times I can't be bothered with this whole materialistic thrust to life (usually after I've been speaking to my spectacularly wealthy, boring, miserly, show-off brother). However as yet I know of no remote tribe with modern functioning bathrooms so no great escape lined up for me

i just spent a week somewhere, no tv, no crappy news. dd happy to play with a few toys, do colouring. spent £40 the whole week.

was bliss.

no i was on a tangent debating the benefits of our healthcare system.. mind you what was the name of that doctor who killed 400 patients and went undetected for years ..

zzzen i think we are living parallel lives ..or have parallel relatives

Harold Shipman - who unfortunately shares the same birthday as me.

I might start asking for my GP's death rate

piratecat, was that the yurt thing or am i mixing you up with someone else?

mind you it was only since the 50's we actually had anti-biotics and any real development in medicine isn't it?

think you are mixing me up, but sounds good to me.!

I know it's very easy for me to come on and say 'oh. i could 'choose' to have a quiet week' ( thought about my reply after!) yet the experience made me really think about how different people live, and how it only took that one week out of the loop to realise how precious life is, and how maybe i can improve mine.

before then they just whipped your tonsils out and put you in an solitary confinement in an asylum if you had anything infectious didn't they?(apologies for my potted history of medicine..)

I agree piratecat, I moved into the country to a remote farmhouse and have never looked back, have since moved into a village but love the simplicity and beauty of the countryside, it's completely changed how I perceive things and what I value. It's changed my pace of life too.

i live in the countryside, ! yet going away for that week, where it was even quieter than here, was very comforting.

I am going to try harder to appreciate what i have. Some of isn't fab, but most of it is good.

There is no 'ideal' as far as can see!

where do you live rebelmum? i live in devon.

ah so you just need to kick out the TV

it made such a difference!! i would say i don't really watch it tho, so thats a bit odd!

Not seeing the papers. i guess it was a case of ignorance is bliss!