I can’t help but to think “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson was an allegory to the asshole men who act nice in public but are absolute shit to women behind closed doors… 

As opposed to...?

I believe I saw an issue of "The Atlantic" with the cover story "Pay to Play", talking about the increasing costs of kids joining traveling teams for various sports.

I don't understand what the problem is here...

As best as I can remember, we (my family and I) had to pay for me to join sporting competitions...

Was that not the case for you?

Ever since I was five (5), it cost money to participate.  How else are the coaches supposed to get paid for their work?  $10 to play T-Ball in the hellhole I grew up in.  Also had to pay for school teams as well, not just those run by the town's parks department.

Same for school teams too.  Ten or twenty dollars for football or basketball.

Sure, once you were playing on the varsity squad, people had to pay to get INTO the games...

And granted, once I moved out to the Marshall Islands, I didn't have to worry about participation fees.  We usually bought new uniforms with our own money year to year, because the school didn't provide us with any (as we were the only school on base, and we'd occasionally play some of the schools with native Marshallese in the base's rec leagues, AGAINST ADULTS (who had to pay an entry fee).  If the school wasn't covering that, I bet we would have to pay like the grownups...

If I recall correctly, the story in "The Atlantic: was talking about the rising costs of kids being on travel teams.  That there was some kind of possibility that some kids would get priced out of being on the team.  But that wouldn't be the end of the line...  Right?  A kid can't afford to be on a travel team..  

OK, fine, they go play on the school's varsity team(s)...

Or is that not the case?  I don't have kids, so I wouldn't know what's going on first hand.  I don't have to help them go through the grind to tryout, buy gear to play, drive to games across the state (especially one as big as California)...

Does anyone have experience that they could shed some light for me?

To me, "Pay to Play" is how it's SUPPOSED to work.  Where and when has that ever been any different?

P.S. - If you can direct me to a digital link to read the article in "The Atlantic", I'd appreciate it.  Thank you...

No, don't get up, I'll get it...

 Growing up, my family was very sedentary...

I'm sure I did my part to burden my mom with tasks like laundry when I was a kid.

But no one else around the house was eager to help out when needed.

My dad, who I was thankful for his sacrifices growing up, could have done more to help.  He was of the type that had kids so they could do his bidding.  And it was never enough.  There were times where I'd be minding my business or maybe acting a little goofy in the living room, and he'd start yelling because I wasn't doing chores.  Asshole...

My sister?  Fat chance there.  She was (and probably still is) the kind of person who'd expect you to feed her grapes while she lounged on a chair.  There was one instance where she was looking in the fridge, and she got mad AT ME when I asked her to grab me a soda.  Then my dad would yell at me for not getting the soda myself.  He also yelled at me once that I wasn't get HER a soda.  WHILE SHE WAS SITTING CLOSER TO THE FRIDGE.

Needless to say, I'm quite resentful about the whole thing.  If it was up to me, I'd have nothing to do with any of them ever again...

Sadly, since they're still alive, I'm sure it'll all happen again.  Even though I live 1500 miles away...