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Comment by Alex3917 | Hacker News Reader

"Alex, do you have any idea how the bottom 95% live?"

Statistically or qualitatively?

In all seriousness though, I have no aspirations of living the elite-NYC-preschool lifestyle. That being said, life is about tradeoffs and while some of the expenses might seem patently absurd, others seem like things that anyone might reasonably want for their children: to play sports, go to summer camp, to be able to get a chemistry tutor if they needed one, etc.

That's not to say that all of these expenses are necessary or that your kids can't have just as good of a childhood without them, but at some level enough of these expenses do have merit that there is a tradeoff.

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"to play sports"

Ever notice how many of the highest performing athletes in the world tend to come from exactly the kind of environments where parents don't have a lot of money to spend on things like sports?

So, maybe it's possible to play sports without spending a ton of money?

My kids play sports but not because I realistically think they are ever going to earn a living at it. It'd be nice if they could get a college scholarship, but even that is a long shot. The main reasons I have them in sports is that it's activity that keeps them fit, it's a social opportunity that allows them to make friends, and it helps them learn an important part of American culture.

None of that requires spending a lot of money.

Maybe in basketball and soccer, where you just need a ball.

In sports like golf, gymnastics, figure skating, hockey, gridiron football, tennis, skiing and snowboarding it's another story.

There are definitely many low income kids who thrive at Grid iron football. Lots of poor Latin American kids play baseball.

The sports that require alot of money to play are mainly ways for upper class white kids to avoid having to compete against the black kids and still feel like they are good athletes. At least in the US.

Not to mention rowing, cycling, biathlon, triathlon, sailing, equestrian, mountaineering, etc. I don't know the exact numbers offhand, but it seems like the vast majority of elite athletes come from wealthy families and go through colleges like Yale and Stanford. The only sports that have even nominal representation from low-SES backgrounds are made-for-TV sports, but if you look at the overall picture it's not nearly as egalitarian.

"made-for-TV sports"

In other words, just the ones that most people like to play and draw the most talented athletes.

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