Aspirations for our children

Us not them

We may wish our children to be a doctor or an accountant or be a great inventor. They say that we should be careful about what we wish for. For most, it is adequate to want nothing more for our children than for them to feel satisfied, content, and free. Your parents probably had high hopes for you. That hope may have turned to disappointment. If so, provide them with some reassurance that their efforts have been worthwhile. If they understand that you are doing the things that satisfy you then how can they complain.

Rather than leave our children to sleep in peace until mid-morning we cajole them out of their beds at dawn. We might like them to be like us, get up early and into work but young adults need more sleep than us older folk.

Are you living your own life and or living it through theirs. We declare that we want them to be happy. The truth can be that we are only happy if they turn out how we imagined they would. Parents burden their children with a lot of pressure. Pressure to abide, to do, to act in a certain way. It comes as a shock when all that pressure comes steaming out in the teens. Most teens will rebel to some degree, but how explosive that will be depends on how much we restricted their release valve.

Should we give unfettered access to the wide scope of pornography, violence, incitement, hate and suggestive material that is readily available? Much will be interwoven with useful nuggets of information. However, think carefully about letting your children play in adult arenas. No teenager is worldly wise. They are decidedly impressionable. The more you permit, the more you are to blame when they begin to harm themselves. The world is a dangerous place. It takes time to learn the skills to navigate it safely.