Parents leave children on the bus while flying first class – to learn a life lesson
Through Gary Lef
A British ostensible ‘property magnate’ sits with his wife in first-class cabins, while the children stay behind in the back. He says that he subjects other passengers to his children so as not to spoil them (the children, but also the other passengers).
In fact, the kids are with a nanny and it looks like the couple is just doesn’t want to be with the kids. Kids need less business class space – they’re just not that big! I have to wonder if the lesson is that they get something nicer if they earned it themselves, or if the parents want to have a good time and don’t want to be bothered with their kids.
@samuel_leeds Don’t worry they sat with their nanny ❤️ don’t spoil your kids #samuelleeds #richpeopleproblems #spoiledchild ♬ original sound – Samuel Leeds
My four year old daughter recently boarded a domestic flight (on a Boeing 737) and as we stepped off the jet bridge she asked the flight attendant in the galley if the plane had beds? She’s fine in a bus seat, but she likes flights where we do a bedtime routine. We put pajamas on her, I read books to hear and tell her a story, and then she goes to sleep. It’s fun!
I will never have a generational wealth, but it certainly matters how children are raised in those circumstances. The old saying is that the first generation makes it, the second grows it, and the third blows it.
I am lucky enough to have a good full time job and write this site which also earns me money. Our business and first-class travel is funded by points, and it’s something I never imagined would be a part of my life growing up. I know I will invest in my daughter – both seeing the world and experiencing it more than I saw as a child (and I visited family in Australia growing up!) and in her education.
However, I think it’s something a lot of parents worry about – creating so much comfort that their kids go hungry. Years ago, Bear Stearns chairman Ace Greenberg liked to hire “PSDs” – poor, smart, with a deep desire to get rich. You don’t want them to lose the desire to become whatever allows them to fully utilize their talents, whatever they are.
On the other hand, you want to give them the support that is the freedom to fail, not have to be so conservative that survival is the most important thing, so that they can take risks and… use their talents, whatever they are, to the completely.
But above all I want to be with my family and that is something very selfish. Looking back at this time when I’m 70 or even 80, would I have liked to spend more time with a meal on an airplane than with my child? I think the key to avoid spoiling them is to help them with context so they understand how special the things you do together and just not blase’ about themselves.
How do you balance giving experiences to your children – in addition to you – without them taking those experiences for granted?