Sometimes even if you're savvy and you can see what would work--you either don't have the money to make it happen as easily as the top 20%, or you're exhausted by the whole system and you don't want to play. It's a conundrum.

I can see what the other parents are doing. But I more highly value spending time at home, eating together, even giving enough time to be "bored" so the kids have to figure out how to amuse themselves. So I don't have the ready money (through no fault of my own; I'm highly educated, but professional librarian gigs just don't pay as much as other professional jobs) and I don't want to give the system my or my kids' time.

And I do worry about kids in families with less money and time than I have. The more we all pursue these separate tracks the more inequality is going to grow.

Which I guess is what the top income class really wants anyway.

Sorry for rambling. Thank you for reading and for the comment!