I don’t know them
Who are these people?
I keep hearing about these people who want to push their kids into prestigious colleges. People who want to know what sport their 9 year old should take to get into an Ivy League school. But I haven’t really met them.
Maybe its because they don’t have time for me and I don’t have time for them. I’m the sort of parent who wants my kids to be active and interested in various things — I want to cultivate curiosity — but that’s it. If they want to go be a doctor or lawyer, well, great. But if not, then great.
I suspect that I had a neighbor once who was like this. He was able to remodel his house quicker than we did ours. He was always busy. His wife was busy doing cancer research. Great stuff.
But then, I talked to them about where they were going, what they were doing. The phrase that stuck in my mind was “It’s all about maximizing our earning potential.”
Of course, I didn’t say anything, but that phrase stuck with me. So he was one of them!
I’m envying the guy across the street who is quite happy in his half of the shotgun double. An artist, he’s painted the walls nicely. He has an autistic child, and doesn’t make a ton of money, but no biggie. He’s happy with what he’s got — at least he seems like it.
Of course, I’m also envious of the first guy and his tenaciousness, his ability to plan out and execute a home rennovation quickly. But that’s it. He just doesn’t seem to have as much fun.
The guys I know and love are friends of mine who went to schools like St. John’s and now make an ok living as a carpenter. Or the maintenance welder who had a lot of free time on the job, so he read quite a few books on the saints and was conversant in the Church Fathers. Guys like![[info]](http://www.openweblog.com/img/userinfo.gif)
turgin and spellbound. Thoughtful, curious people. None of them went to an Ivy League school. None of them seem to obsess over sending their children to these sorts of schools. But they’re interesting people, none-the-less.
In fact, come to think of it, I’m begining to believe that the driven parent is a bugaboo. Rarely seen, but much feared.
I keep hearing about these people who want to push their kids into prestigious colleges. People who want to know what sport their 9 year old should take to get into an Ivy League school. But I haven’t really met them.
Maybe its because they don’t have time for me and I don’t have time for them. I’m the sort of parent who wants my kids to be active and interested in various things — I want to cultivate curiosity — but that’s it. If they want to go be a doctor or lawyer, well, great. But if not, then great.
I suspect that I had a neighbor once who was like this. He was able to remodel his house quicker than we did ours. He was always busy. His wife was busy doing cancer research. Great stuff.
But then, I talked to them about where they were going, what they were doing. The phrase that stuck in my mind was “It’s all about maximizing our earning potential.”
Of course, I didn’t say anything, but that phrase stuck with me. So he was one of them!
I’m envying the guy across the street who is quite happy in his half of the shotgun double. An artist, he’s painted the walls nicely. He has an autistic child, and doesn’t make a ton of money, but no biggie. He’s happy with what he’s got — at least he seems like it.
Of course, I’m also envious of the first guy and his tenaciousness, his ability to plan out and execute a home rennovation quickly. But that’s it. He just doesn’t seem to have as much fun.
The guys I know and love are friends of mine who went to schools like St. John’s and now make an ok living as a carpenter. Or the maintenance welder who had a lot of free time on the job, so he read quite a few books on the saints and was conversant in the Church Fathers. Guys like
turgin and spellbound. Thoughtful, curious people. None of them went to an Ivy League school. None of them seem to obsess over sending their children to these sorts of schools. But they’re interesting people, none-the-less.In fact, come to think of it, I’m begining to believe that the driven parent is a bugaboo. Rarely seen, but much feared.