Notting Hill mum reveals how rich families parent

Author Isabella Davidson is one of those mums. She lives in affluent London district Notting Hill, where she and her husband, who works in the City, raise 2 young children together.

In her circle, she regularly rubs shoulders with the 1%, and these eye-wateringly wealthy mums showboat with world class tutors for toddlers and birthday bashes at The Dorchester.

At least, that’s what she claims in her revelatory new (fictional-but-inspired-by-real-life) novel The Beta Mum: Adventures In Alpha Land.

She admits that, though she’s well off enough to send her kids to the same prestigious private school, she’s not able to keep up with other mums on everything else.

In a piece for The Mirror, Isabella details some of the most – shall we say, outlandish – things she’s witnessed…

Next level birthday parties

"When she started nursery, my daughter was invited to a birthday party. But this wasn’t a birthday party in a church hall with sausage rolls, this was an event in the ballroom of The Dorchester hotel.

"There were 120 guests and not only a massive bouncy castle, a magician and an ice cream machine, but they’d put a fairground merry-go-round in there too, while a miniature train was running around the ballroom.

"You know how some kids have safari-themed parties? Someone we know took 20 kids on a private jet to Africa to stay in their safari lodge for their child’s birthday."

World Book Day competition

"School is very competitive, and when you have a lot of money it’s a different league.

"Parents will go above and beyond with events like World Book Day and Easter bonnet competitions. They’ll get designers to create costumes and hats so incredible they could be on the catwalk at London Fashion Week.

"One year, the famous milliner Philip Treacy even made a hat for one of the kids.

"My children will help to make a home-made one with me. You never want to be the one with the worst hat, but it’s hard to keep up."

Private toddler tutors

"The children in my daughter’s nursery are already being privately tutored – they’re learning to read and write and practising high-frequency words at age 3.

"At some point these tutored kids are going to be much more advanced and it’s a very difficult situation.

"I worry it will be detrimental to my children – how will they keep up if everyone else is getting extra help?"

(Isabella also notes that the same little ones practice 'activities' like violin, piano or tennis every single day - sometimes twice a day, and every single day while on holiday.)

Fine school dining

"There was the parent who didn’t like the school lunch, so had their chef prepare food each day and the chauffeur dropped it off at lunchtime – until the headmaster had to stop it because it was too disruptive and too many parents wanted to do the same.

"It’ll be no surprise to hear some of these children regularly dine in expensive sushi restaurants like Nobu and Zuma."

Hmmm...

Wow. Sounds like a completely different universe, let alone world, right? ???

Honestly, we reckon when it comes to raising your kids – as long as they’re happy, healthy and safe – then it’s really a case of each to their own.

And if you’ve got the money, why not make the most of it? We’d love a safari party for ourselves, never mind for the kids ?

But for us personally, we do have to wonder if toddlers being tutored non-stop and endless ‘activities’ on holiday is a little bit much.

We also can’t imagine how we’d feel if World Book Day became anything more than sewing together something simple the night before ?

It sounds like competition is fierce in this world, so we understand why Isabella - despite her enviable circumstance - feels like she's on the back foot a bit.

Have your say

We really wanted to share Isabella’s comments to see what you thought.

Are you less than sympathetic – or do you think that whatever your sitch, it’s hard not to compare how you’re doing to everyone else around you?

And if you had money to burn, would you be keen to go all out with designer World Book Day costumes, expensive meals and beyond-your-wildest-dreams birthday bashes for your tot?

Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below, or over on Facebook

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Elizabeth Atkin