Why Every Mum Thinks Everyone Else at the School Gate Has More Money.

Whether you're willing to admit it or not, you're definately looking left and right to see who has what and doing the mental maths on how much it costs.

There's the varying degrees, of course.

Some you can clock instantly and label as wealthy, whereas others are non-descript.

Stealthy, almost.

But isn't this just commonplace thinking at the school gate?

The mum in the townhouse thinks everyone owns a bigger house.

The mum in the bigger house thinks everyone else renovated.

The mum who renovated thinks everyone else built.

The mum who built thinks everyone else has an investment property.

The mum with the investment property thinks everyone else also has a holiday house.

And the woman with the holiday house is wondering how everyone else keeps going to Europe in the summer.

The benchmark never stays still.

Which is why nobody ever feels like they've reached it.

School communities are particularly fascinating (and equally frustrating) for this.

Someone casually mentions skiing.

Someone else mentions rowing.

Another family is building.

Someone's child has private tutoring, orthodontics and somehow manages to play seventeen sports simultaneously.

Sarah whose husband is a painter, has a new YSL bag that you've been eyeing for months,

You nod politely while mentally calculating whether your family could survive if everyone shared a single kidney.

You consider meal-prepping instead of ordering Uber Eats 3 nights a week.

And yet the funny thing is they're probably doing the exact same thing.

Looking sideways.

Wondering how everyone else seems to be managing.

So we're not like, poor, but are we wealthy?

Because wealth has become incredibly difficult to identify.

The genuinely wealthy often look surprisingly normal.

The heavily financed often look incredibly wealthy.

Social media has completely blurred the line between the two.

A woman can be standing in front of a $6 million home while privately stressed about interest rates.

Another can be wearing Kmart activewear while sitting on significant assets accumulated over decades.

Most of us have absolutely no idea.

But we continue comparing anyway.

Not because we're greedy.

Because we're looking for reassurance.

It's almost like we're asking:

Are we doing okay?

Are we falling behind?

Did everyone else get a handbook (or handout) I somehow missed?

The answer is usually no, nobody got the handbook.

Everyone is winging it.

Even the mums who look like they've got it all figured out.

Particularly those mums, actually.

Of course, there is extortionate wealth amongst you.

Perhaps you know of it or perhaps you're yet to learn it, nevertheless the charade continues.

Because whether you want to admit it or not, socioeconomic status and aesthetic buy far more than material possessions.

Especially at the school gate.

Everybody sees it. Nobody says it.