People Who Grew Up Poor Understand These 11 Things That Rich Kids Will Never Get
Growing up poor gives you a wealth of knowledge that is hard to beat.
Anton Dios / Shutterstock Let’s face it: being the poor kid is not good. Being the poor kid surrounded by kids who live in an affluent neighborhood means you have to deal with living in a totally different reality than your peers. Growing up poor also means you have a small fraction of the opportunities that come with a middle-class life.
No matter how you slice or dice it, it’s not a fun time. However, poverty can be a valuable teacher, and there are specific lessons that people who grew up poor come to understand that those who grew up as rich kids will never get.
People who grew up poor understand these 11 things that rich kids will never get
1. The importance of networking
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Rich kids absolutely understand the importance of networking, but often not to the extent that a poor kid does. For rich kids, networking is a good way to get that first job or even get a letter of recommendation from a senator. You can burn a bridge or two without issue.
For poor kids, networking and social connections can be the difference between life and death—or the difference between homelessness and sleeping the night.
2. The satisfaction of doing something yourself
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Being rich means that you can always hire someone to do the things you don’t want to do, including home repairs and gardening. It’s easy to call up someone and tell them to fix the plumbing.
It’s not as easy to repair something yourself or even make something yourself. When you finish repairing something, it makes you feel like a rock star. You feel smart, strong, and even a little cool. That satisfaction isn’t something that money can buy. That’s why some studies are showing DIY projects as the new “confidence builder” of choice.
3. How to stretch necessities
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Rich kids take many things for granted, including things like fresh water and a constant supply of household cleaning products. If you decide to dump a bunch of shampoo into your hand, that’s not a bad thing. It won’t break your budget.
If you’re broke, though? You can’t just dump a shampoo just because you hate the way it smells. You need to finagle a way to get more shampoo. So, you might water down your soaps and shampoos. Or you might go to the gym so that you might get some free shampoo while you wait for that check.
4. How to achieve recognition without a 'cheat code'
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When you’re rich, you can buy a lot of things that push you light-years ahead of other people. This can include things like a tutor for those pesky SATs, or even a way to afford entry into some swanky networking parties that can connect you with the right employers.
Poor people don’t have that. When they work hard and learn hard, they have to go “all in” and more. You have to stand out in a sea of others. If you can do that, it’s easy enough to build yourself up.
With that said, getting to the top is more complicated than before, and upward mobility has been on the decline for some time now.
5. Resourcefulness
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As so many of these inspirational articles can tell you, there’s a certain natural resourcefulness that comes from growing up poor. Poor people don’t just DIY things or stretch out their stuff. They also tend to be able to figure out how to find resources when others just kind of flail about.
Growing up poor means you often know where to go for food banks, free health clinics, and more. In many cases, you also might know how to work with social workers in a way that most others don’t. Oh, and you might also know the power of YouTube for knowledge.
6. How to make friends on raw charm
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One thing I’ve noticed about wealthy people is that they often use money as a way to “grease the wheels” with certain people. They use flashy things, such as a yacht or a special club, to make friends. Being broke means you can’t expect to attract people based on what you own or what your stylist does.
When you grow up poor, you have to learn the art of charm if you’re going to get anywhere with people. It’s quite possible, too. That’s why the “charming-but-broke guy” trope tends to be so popular.
7. How big of a deal high school graduation is
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Graduating from both high school and college is often treated as a given by the upper crust. However, when you’re poor, it’s not a given. Poverty has a way of throwing wrenches in even the most basic of tasks. Many kids from poor families don’t have the time to study, even if they want to.
This is one of the reasons why wealthy states tend to have higher college and high school graduation rates. Poorer states have more poverty-related issues that make it harder to graduate.
8. The brutality of having to say no
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Have you ever had to tell a kid that you can’t afford a birthday present for them? Have you ever had to tell your family that you’re skipping a meal because you couldn’t afford to get food for them and you? Have you ever had to give up a pet because you couldn’t afford it anymore?
If you’ve ever had to say no to something that was absolutely gut-wrenching, you understand the brutality of no. Rich people don’t get that.
9. Making food from pretty much nothing
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This is a skill I have learned from certain friends who grew up poor, some of whom even spent several years in jail. Living off whatever you could find to eat (including things from dumpsters) and buying stuff from the JPay commissary meant that you had to be able to make amazing spreads from nothing.
Long story short, I have never been more impressed by a meal made with corn chips and cuts of meat before. I’ve yet to see someone who was wealthy match poverty cooking skills.
10. Self-reliance
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There are very few things that will toughen you up (or break you) the way that growing up in poverty does. People who grew up poor tend to have to do everything themselves because the wealthy and middle-class often view the poor as “lost causes.”
In many cases, the end result is that they become hyper-independent. There’s nothing they can’t do, because they know that if they rely on other people, they’re all on their own.
11. How money (or the lack of it) changes people
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Whether people like to admit it or not, growing up poor can and will impact who you become as an adult. When you’ve never had to worry about money, you have a lot more confidence and a lot more naiveté.
When you grow up poor, there is a palpable level of trauma attached to it. It makes you both more daring and more cautious at the same time. Even the opportunities you get and the way people treat you will differ. And yes, it does change how your life plays out, whether glurge stories want to admit it or not.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.
