6 ms·

Wow, you've lived a privileged life.

throwaway729 10y ago
IDK. That was my initial reaction too. But then, my wife's parents are definitely not well-off (unlikely to ever retire) and they still sent us small "just because" gifts occasionally when we were young and poor. And I literally don't know anyone with a kid and a non-terrible (not even necessarily good) relationship with their parents who hasn't received a lot of free child care. Parents -- even those who have to work hard to make ends meet -- find time for the grandchildren. So if the definition was "any amount of cash/any service for a reason other than birthday/holiday", then I kind of have to agree with your parent. So I definitely agree that having parents who can work and take occasionally vacation and have any amount of disposable income is definitely a huge blessing. But I don't think it's particularly rare in the US, either.
- km3k 10y ago
  While I agree with you on free child care, this article doesn't even consider that. It's all financial support exclusively.
- ChuckMcM 10y ago
  That was my thought exactly, by the articles loose definition babysitting the grand children would be considered "helping" financially by the reasoning that day care costs money. Thus an article that implies a criticism of millennials that have been "helped" seems rude to me.
  - runamok 10y ago
    Most seemed to have taken your comment at face value rather and as criticism of parents vs. criticism of the article re: its loose definition of 'help'...
- erobbins 10y ago
  It's not rare, and it shouldn't be rare. At the same time I'm tired of being lumped into the "privileged white male" group when being white is literally the ONLY advantage I've ever had. I've never gotten a single penny handed to me from anyone, related or not, since turning 17.
ChuckMcM 10y ago
Are you equating parents helping their kids with "privileged life" ? I'd certainly agree that people who have no parents have a harder life, but simply having parents doesn't seem to rise to the level of privileged that you imply here.
- paulcole 10y ago
  > Are you equating parents helping their kids with "privileged life" yes, that is like the definition of privilege
  - gnud 10y ago
    By that definition, 3 out of 4 millenials are priveleged. At that point, I'm not sure it's a useful term any more.
    - michaelchisari 10y ago
      I think it is. All that privilege requires is the existence of the non-privileged or disadvantaged. To give an extreme example, the majority of people in the US don't have to deal with what those who live on reservations have to deal with. That means that the majority of people in the US are privileged in a way that those on a res aren't. I've always thought of the discussion about privilege to be a very American way of talking about human rights. We can't possibly talk about having enough food, housing, safe interactions with the law, etc. as rights, and thus those who don't have that are being denied their basic rights, so instead we talk about those things as privileges that are denied to a segment of population. I would much prefer talk about these things as rights, personally.
      - gnud 10y ago
        Well, sure. Someone getting help from their parents are privileged compared to someone not getting help. The term isn't normally used in this relative sense, though. The oxford dictionary says that privilege is 'a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group'. Something the majority enjoys is not a privilege.
sctb 10y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065881 and marked it off-topic.

IDK. That was my initial reaction too. But then, my wife's parents are definitely not well-off (unlikely to ever retire) and they still sent us small "just because" gifts occasionally when we were young and poor. And I literally don't know anyone with a kid and a non-terrible (not even necessarily good) relationship with their parents who hasn't received a lot of free child care. Parents -- even those who have to work hard to make ends meet -- find time for the grandchildren. So if the definition was "any amount of cash/any service for a reason other than birthday/holiday", then I kind of have to agree with your parent. So I definitely agree that having parents who can work and take occasionally vacation and have any amount of disposable income is definitely a huge blessing. But I don't think it's particularly rare in the US, either.

km3k 10y ago
While I agree with you on free child care, this article doesn't even consider that. It's all financial support exclusively.
ChuckMcM 10y ago
That was my thought exactly, by the articles loose definition babysitting the grand children would be considered "helping" financially by the reasoning that day care costs money. Thus an article that implies a criticism of millennials that have been "helped" seems rude to me.
- runamok 10y ago
  Most seemed to have taken your comment at face value rather and as criticism of parents vs. criticism of the article re: its loose definition of 'help'...
erobbins 10y ago
It's not rare, and it shouldn't be rare. At the same time I'm tired of being lumped into the "privileged white male" group when being white is literally the ONLY advantage I've ever had. I've never gotten a single penny handed to me from anyone, related or not, since turning 17.

ChuckMcM 10y ago

Are you equating parents helping their kids with "privileged life" ? I'd certainly agree that people who have no parents have a harder life, but simply having parents doesn't seem to rise to the level of privileged that you imply here.

paulcole 10y ago
> Are you equating parents helping their kids with "privileged life" yes, that is like the definition of privilege
- gnud 10y ago
  By that definition, 3 out of 4 millenials are priveleged. At that point, I'm not sure it's a useful term any more.
  - michaelchisari 10y ago
    I think it is. All that privilege requires is the existence of the non-privileged or disadvantaged. To give an extreme example, the majority of people in the US don't have to deal with what those who live on reservations have to deal with. That means that the majority of people in the US are privileged in a way that those on a res aren't. I've always thought of the discussion about privilege to be a very American way of talking about human rights. We can't possibly talk about having enough food, housing, safe interactions with the law, etc. as rights, and thus those who don't have that are being denied their basic rights, so instead we talk about those things as privileges that are denied to a segment of population. I would much prefer talk about these things as rights, personally.
    - gnud 10y ago
      Well, sure. Someone getting help from their parents are privileged compared to someone not getting help. The term isn't normally used in this relative sense, though. The oxford dictionary says that privilege is 'a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group'. Something the majority enjoys is not a privilege.

sctb 10y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065881 and marked it off-topic.