6 ms·

Define success.

• UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  I'd rather have a happy child who appreciates what shes has than a successful one (measuring sucess as having a bachelor's degree and a high paying job and an assortment of material goods).
  • lgas 12y ago
    I'm with you 100%. From what I've seen most parents fall into one of two extremes. Those that are simply bad parents. They are, on balance, neglectful and/or mean to their children. Or they are hyper involved with their kids because they want them to be super successful. That set bifurcates into two more groups: basically the helicopter parents that try to protect their child from everything and arrange for the child to face no really challenges until they have graduated college and left the nest and those that push their children super hard to give them a perfect Ivy League entrance resume. The first groups kids are absolutely helpless and have almost no chance of being successful. The second groups kids probably will be successful if they don't kill themselves but grow up to be high pressure asshole parents to their kids repeating the cycle. It's so rare that I find parents that really seem to be focused on what's best for their children and their children's happiness. Even among my close friends who I thought we're smart enough to avoid these traps they largely fit one of the stereotypes. I almost want to have kids just to see if it would happen to me too but I think that's probably not a good reason to have kids.