After the pandemic, poverty has spiked globally due to the disturbance it created worldwide. However, some people don’t seem to understand what poverty really means. I mean, you can’t just take things at face value; you have to dig deeper in order to get a grasp on it.
Even the original poster’s (OP) friend needs a lesson about it, as according to her, two kids sharing the same room is a “sign of poverty.” Well, even when our lead character didn’t agree with her, it somehow still bothered her, so she vented online and the friend got a reality check from netizens!
More info: Mumsnet
Poverty has spiked since the pandemic, but some people don't really understand what it means
Image credits: cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
With some inheritance, the poster is able to buy a mortgage-free, 3-bedroom house, where her 1-year-old and 3-year-old will share a room
Image credits: DesTeeny
Image credits: Rene Terp / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The third room is quite small compared to the others and they plan to keep it as a spare room for visiting family, like the OP's mother
Image credits: DesTeeny
Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels (not the actual photo)
They feel that one kid having a big room and the other being stuck with a small room would be unfair, so they plan to make the two share the big one
Image credits: DesTeeny
The OP's friend commented that this was a "sign of poverty," but the poster disagreed with her and vented online
In today’s story, the poster tells us how her friend’s opinion that “kids sharing one room is a sign of poverty” bothered her even when she disagreed with it. She and her husband were lucky enough to get an inheritance, with which they are able to buy a mortgage-free, 3-bed house.
Now, apart from the room that OP will share with her husband, the house has one big room and one quite small room. The big one will be given to their 3-year-old and 1-year-old children to share, while the small one will be left as a spare room for guests, like her mom, who visits often.
The couple feels that giving the big one to one kid and the small one to the other would be really unfair. Plus, getting a house with more rooms would mean a mortgage, and it seems ridiculous when they are perfectly content with this one.
Or so they thought, because a close friend mentioned that their kids sharing one room was a “sign of poverty.” This friend even went on to say that she couldn’t believe that they were even considering this when they could have a bigger house with a mortgage.
Although OP disagreed with their friend, it must’ve kept bothering her, for she vented online and sought advice from netizens.
Image credits: Edmond Dantès / Pexels (not the actual photo)
It has been observed that more than 1 in 5 people in the UK (22%) were in poverty in 2021-2022, which is around 14.4 million people. The pandemic really affected the country's economic threshold, but people are often confused about what exactly poverty is.
Folks online pointed out that the poster’s friend was one of these people who didn’t understand what poverty even meant. They pointed out that the true signs of poverty were people being unable to afford bus fares, using food banks, or living in temporary accommodation. These netizens highlighted that kids sharing a room was far from it.
Research suggests that 25% of Brits have a home with a mortgage, and netizens mentioned that the poster and her husband were lucky not to fall into this category. They even stressed that the friend’s unsolicited comment was not required here as it was not her house, her kids, or her decision.
Some mentioned to her that the kids were too little to even think about these things, so it didn't really matter, but the couple could make changes once they grew up. A few even advised that she could take down the wall between the big and small rooms and make two even-sized rooms later.
On the other hand, there were a few who found it ridiculous that she planned to make her kids share a room and prioritize a guest room over them. To clear their doubts, however, OP mentioned in the comments that the 1-year-old can’t tell her anything, but the 3-year-old loves the idea of sharing the room with her baby sister.
What would you do if you were in her shoes? Feel free to jot down your thoughts in the comments below!
Most folks said that her friend had no clue what poverty meant; however, a few called her out for making the kids share one room and keeping the other for guests
