People Who Grew Up Rich Are Sharing Their “I’m Privileged” Wake-Up Calls, And Some Of These Are Wild

At some point, growing up, we all start to understand the socioeconomic reality we’re in. If you grew up with very little, maybe your parents were upfront about money being tight — like telling you why you couldn’t join a school trip or why Christmas gifts had to be practical. If you grew up middle-class, you might have assumed everyone had a similar kind of life until you met someone with way more (or way less) than you, or maybe you noticed your family vacations were very nice but not extravagant like the ones you saw on TV. And if you grew up wealthy, maybe it didn’t click until someone pointed out that the way you were growing up was not how most people lived.

Recently, redditor Wonderful-Economy762 wanted to know about the latter of the three when they asked: “People who grew up with wealth, what was your ‘I’m privileged’ wake-up call?”

The thread got hundreds of replies from people who grew up rich. Below are the top and best “That was ‘I’m privileged’ wake-up call” moments:

1.“When I realized not every kid’s parents were able to pay for college — and a first car — outright with no problem.”

—suprasternaincognito

2.“My grandparents had a regulation-sized racquetball court in their basement. For my whole childhood, I thought this was like a normal thing one might optionally have in their house, like a garbage disposal. At a certain point, I realized that was…not normal.”

—Gorgonzola2756

3.“Vacationing for 3–4 months in a warmer place to avoid the winters.”

—Alaska1111

4.“When I realized not everyone thought of vacations as a regular thing. Someone once said they’d never been on a plane, and it genuinely shocked me. That’s when it hit.”

—giggleglitterz

5.“As a sophomore in college, a kid started crying after the mechanic called to quote an expensive repair. I remember thinking, It’s not your car, just call your parents so they can take care of it. I still think about that, 20 years later.”

—Far_Reputation_5753

6.“I spring from generational wealth, so I always knew I was privileged because ‘To whom much is given, much will be required ‘ was drilled into my head by my father from an early age. But I hadn’t realised how out-of-sync my upbringing was with my preferred lifestyle (decidedly low-key) until I took my husband to visit one of the old family homes — it was the first time I’d ever shown anyone from my current life any place from my childhood — and as we were approaching the town on the train I pointed it out on the hill. He replied, ‘All I see is a castle.’ I said, ‘That’s not a castle, it’s the house.’ I’d never seen anyone’s jaw drop like that before.”

—protogens

7.“Realizing that the houses I grew up in were in the nicest part of the city, and one that my classmates would have killed to live in.”

—KeyEnvironmental9743

8.“I wasn’t one of the wealthiest people in my high school, so I didn’t really notice any privilege until I got to college. My parents bought a house for my brother and I to live in so we didn’t have to pay rent. (House is worth around $700K now). I never thought we had a lot of money since my parents were pretty frugal, but I learned that a lot of wealthy people are frugal; oftentimes, the people who show off the most have the least!”

—ZealousidealAnt111

9.“Being told not to tell other kids we were going to Disney World.”

—UnavailableName864

10.“My parents bought me my third brand new car by the time I was 23. The first went to my stepdad, the second was to drive better in the snow, and the third was because my environmental ass whined about the SUV after college. I knew by car two.”

—poopy-butt17

11.“Honestly, the wealth was temporary, so I’m not sure it still counts. But first learning that it wasn’t standard to ride in luxury cars, vacation in Italy, go to steak restaurants, or have all the latest cutting-edge toys. Learning that not all kids had that, around age 15. See the first sentence; perhaps my parents could have done more to preserve and invest it. But new wealth typically loses to old wealth in the end.”

—jjopm

12.“As a kid, I used to think everyone went to the country club because that’s where I ran into cousins, family friends, classmates, neighbors. I didn’t know that it required a (very expensive and exclusive) membership to get into one.”

—smokeandmirrorsff

13.“My friend asked me to go dress shopping with her for a dance we were going to in 8th grade. I already had my dress, but went to help her and hang out. We went to the Salvation Army instead of the mall, and I was extremely uncomfortable. I had never been in a thrift store except for Halloween costumes or for clothes that weren’t ‘real.'”

—gcot802

14.“We weren’t wealthy by LA or NYC standards, but I guess we were locally. Anyway. I was a real nobody in high school. I had three friends, and almost no one knew my name. When we were on the bus to school, or I was getting a ride, people would say, ‘Look at that house! I can’t believe someone lives there!’ I would never say that’s my house. I’d just pretend I didn’t know what was being said. It was really weird when someone would say that our house was their uncle’s or that their parents were going to buy it.”

—nerdmoot

15.“I remember being in first grade and the teacher asking what everyone’s parents did for work, and I said golf because that’s all I really saw him do.”

—AnimatorDifficult429

16.“Upper middle class, and when I realized not every kid had access to orthodontics. Or even the dentist. And it was a given for my family.”

—Helpful_Masterpiece4

17.“I thought it’s normal to spend days every week out of town, and then shopping, and deciding which car to ride for the day. I used to think that money was to be invested not just financially, but also in leisure and making memories.”

—cryanide_

18.“I had to wear a jacket and tie every night for dinner while our butler/majordomo served the food off of silver platters prepared by our live-in cook, who made all our daily meals, breakfast, lunch if anyone was home from work or school, and dinner. As a kid, like 7 or 8, I thought every household was like mine.”

—BoS_Vlad

19.“I grew up comparatively wealthy, but in my teens, poverty became the name of the game. I became aware I had financial privilege when I made friends who were also poor, and I was the only one who’d had and maintained a passport since I was about 6 months old. I grew up thinking everyone had one, little did I know that not everyone can afford or even acquire one.”

—tucnakpingwin

20.“Sitting with my friends in private school, they started talking about some of the requirements they had to meet to keep their scholarships, and I thought, The what? This is high school.”

—CactusRaeGalaxy

21.“That not everyone got $100 for their kindergarten report card, or weekly massages before school, in middle school. Or was put up in a fancy condo right after high school to live solo during college, or got a new car for graduating from college.”

—Ok-Class-1451

22.“I figured out I was from a well-off family my freshman year of college. Before that, pretty much everyone I knew was the same as my family. I thought it was just normal. But in college, I was shocked to hear others talk about growing up in a very different way. It really opened my eyes.”

—FormerRep6

23.“Getting a credit card in 7th grade, I remember a teacher seeing my wallet in the cafeteria and literally looking blown away and saying, ‘You have a credit card? What do your parents do???’ Awkward for sure.”

—lovely8

24.“Not loaded by any means, solidly middle class. But my parents were seemingly the only ones who knew how to cook. Dinner was always a vegetable, protein, and starch. There was always dessert. I didn’t realize how privileged I was for that until high school. Friends would always want to stay for dinner. And there was always plenty. Even if I was home alone, there was always food. And that’s a huge privilege I just thought was normal.”

—Pretend-Vehicle-5183

25.And lastly, “We had show horses.”

—PR_Tek

You can read the original thread on Reddit.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.