Patagucci and Park Slope children

I want to do sleep with Kensingtonmom. Give me your number, I miss you!

Subject: Kensington Mom is right and Park Slope's delusion

This discussion is such a disappointment in what I thought Park Slope population represents. Maybe Kensington Mom didn't make the right choice of the brands she mentioned or the situation she described but she reiterated several times her main point which is the rampant materialism and class shift in this neighborhood which used to pride itself on non-comformism and progressive thinking...

I can't believe that the majority of responses here are personal attacks and justifications of how it is ok to buy expensive clothes for the kids and just general conservative attitudes aimed at preserving one's bourgeois comforts and materialism. And by the way, someone mentioned that the kids arent old enough to be materialistic, I want to ask you a question, have you ever talked to a precocious 8 year old from Park Slope????? I baby sit them and let me tell you materialistic they ARE. Last time I talk to one them he was talking about the "original details" of their Park Slope townhouse and how my TV is not big enough to enjoy watching cartoons...

I guess it is time for me to move to Kensington.... Park Slope is a new Upper East Side, but it is worse because, indeed, it is deluding itself into non-materialistic, progressive and intellectual superiority...

linusvanpelt wrote: I think the problem is that she took some (to me) very interesting questions -- how status-fixated is Park Slope really, are the parents passing on some level of materialism and status-fixation to their kids, etc. -- and made it about her personal resentment..

As I stated, my initial post was not written well (and I regret that since the topic then became about me)--I used hyperbole to get attention and make a point. But personal resentment implies these are things I DESIRE for my children--(what I perceive as a growing indulgence of the kids in Brooklyn as Manhattanites flock out here for the real estate). But I am surprised this consumerism isn't worrying more parents and instead people are rushing to the defense of materialism? It is something that I noticed more once I had kids and what worries me most about raising my kids in NY. Are we as bad if not worse then the suburbs because we think that owning certain brands or eating certain organic foods can be a superior progressive statement?

friendlypitbull wrote: All that being said - even if PS changed 'class' over the last 20 years - it doesnt validate KTM's negative value judgements regarding the current PS residents simply based on their kids haircuts and patagonia jackets.

True, I cannot get into the mind of every parent that day but if I see a burning building and a person running from it with a can of gasoline, I might deduce that person lit the place on fire. Just as I might deduce on a Saturday afternoon a bunch of expensively overdressed kids MIGHT be indulged and might represent the new class shift in the slope. This is a an aspect of the once rising real estate boom in the slope I had never thought about--what happens with the schools as the new kids who move in have different values to what was once a more eclectic neighborhood?

I can only say from my experience (having lived in the slope for over 15 years) that when I moved in my neighbors were two social workers, a writer, an accountant, a laywer for Amnesty, a musician, a singer and a teacher. When I sold my coop there were three investment bankers, a financial consultant or something from Merrill Lynch, one social worker, a model, an ad executive and a lawyer from a white shoe firm. I saw this as a "class" shift or demographic shift.

saintjohnsnear5th wrote: People like Kensingtonmom would probably love to own a brownstone in Park Slope and afford designer gear and expensive snacks for their children. Perhaps all you can afford for your kids right now is rags and 50 cent gummi bears. But that doesn't make it ok for you to bitch and moan about the people who have what you wish you had?

You assume the American Dream for everyone is about cash and buying the best "brand" you can buy. Believe it or not, some people don't really subscribe to it. When we sold our coop we thought pretty hard over whether we wanted to move to the South Slope or move to Windsor Terrace or Kensington. Since we weren't buying in the 321 school district, I decided to move further out for a variety of reasons--(one being diversity--Kensington is the most diverse neighborhood in NYC). There were many thiings I liked about the slope (and there are things I still do) and the only resentment I feel about leaving the slope is that the school districts in Brooklyn are not equal. I can assure you, I am happy with my neighbors where I once again have writers, musicians, social workers, teachers, firefighters, and painters on my block. But we could use a few restaurants, a bank and other amenities. So besides that my office is in the slope (I THINK that means I am allowed to post here and have judgments about a neighborhood I lived in for 15 years as well as rent office space in??) I also go there to eat.

What surprises me the most is how many people are rushing to the defense of overly privleged kids and yet how many on this same board were ranting and raving over the annoyance of a few homeless or panhandlers or as one person called them bums in the neighborhood, a few months ago.