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Raising a rich kid is kinda like child abuse because it messes up their reward function

6 August, 2026 · 297,097 views · 2,050 likes · 105 reposts

It's fascinating to see how the reward function of rich kids are so messed up

I'd go as far to say if you raise a rich kid it's kinda like child abuse

No real struggle or work necessary and no chance to fail and learn from it, because if you fail daddy just comes and bail you out every time

Getting housing and monthly funding way into adult life

Often a family patriarch who in return for all that funding enforces a strong control over their life too, which along with the dependency avoids them ever flying out on their own

It's so detrimental to people's development

Normal reward function: work hard -> struggle -> win in the end -> get money and power -> develop personality

Rich kid reward function: don't work at all, barely work, work hard, it doesn't matter what you choose -> get money anyway (although often power stays with the family patriarch) -> maintain personality of a child

They essentially remain children forever!

PS nothing wrong with rich kids, I didn't grow up poor at all

My dad was a cardiologist in Netherlands, me and my brothers each had a PC for ex, which was exceptional, not rich like American doctors btw, but about upper middle class in NL

But our parents generally gave us stuff to develop ourselves, not regular toys, but creative stuff like a guitar or PC and it worked out well to develop us

The money mostly stopped around 18 and we had to move out (like most Dutch kids do/did when going to uni) and get a job (I worked in a callcenter because I was DJing/producing drum & bass music) or go uni

I fucked up public high school and parents paid one year private school to get me to finish high school after I failed 3 years and sucked at it so much like my brother

I paid back that money a decade ago

Anyway I'm happy we grew up well but they cut me off so I could do my own thing and spread my wings and fly

If I'd be a rich kid that'd not move out of my home, kept getting paid by parents etc., and the parents also putting lots of power over me even when I'm in my 20s, 30s or even 40s

I think what I'd do is save some money, then hard cut myself off, stop taking their money, their housing, their job and just GTFO

Then be broke and just start over from scratch

Better to own my own shit than be someone else's bitch

In Netherlands public school is free

It's a 3-tier system like Germany, based on intelligence

I was in the highest called Gymnasium

If you have less than a 5.5/10 average for a topic you fail the year and have to re-do EVERYTHING

I kept failing cause it was not so interesting to me and I wasn't smart enough

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