“Do not ask your children to strive”

[Anonymous]

“Do not ask your children to strive,” by William Martin

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

[Anonymous]

So beautiful, thank youfor sharing it

[Anonymous]

Ie, peasants know your place.

I’m incredibly happy I strived to escape my backwater hometown.

Maybe I didn’t make it all the way, but settling for an ordinary life near home would have been a lifetime of… not fitting in to put it mildly.

[Anonymous]

Tough break for Billy… probably didn’t get in to AAP

[Anonymous]

I feel like you can do all of that, it’s not one of the other. I can want my kid to do well and care about pets/raindrops/whatever…. T the same time.

[Anonymous]

You can do all at the same time, don’t need to choose, only kids have to choose, us adults should teach them on how to have it all…

[Anonymous]

How about both?

[Anonymous]

I think PPs are missing the point. Every minute these kids are doing Kumon or RSM or whatever is a minute they are not allowed to just *be*

[Anonymous]

^ And isolating them in an artificial society damages their ability to relate to the general population. (And no, I am not experiencing sour grapes. My kids are too young for AAP)

[Anonymous]

This poem is the mating call of the modern loser. Nothi g wrong with hard work and striving to be the best at what you do. What garbage.

[Anonymous]

My kids put the flowers on our family cat’s grave; my kids buried the gold fish; my kids brushed the other family cat and played with the fur; my kids picked the strawberries and tomato’s from the family garden and ate right there; my kids wondered about human existence, our souls our purpose on earth; my kids wondered about the universe, the boundaries of the universe and what lies beyond it. I teach them to be extraordinary so one day they can find out themselves what they asked me today that I can not answer

[Anonymous]

Sorry, my high-functioning autistic/gifted son will never have an ordinary life. Everything about him is either above average or below average. Even if he wanted to and ***strived for it***, he wouldn't be able to.

I certainly hope my neurotypical daughter has an ordinary life. We lead ordinary lives.

Dumb poem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think PPs are missing the point. Every minute these kids are doing Kumon or RSM or whatever is a minute they are not allowed to just *be*

Wrong. Putting your kids in RSM and Kumon is good for them. That (and a part time job at McDonalds) is how they build a work ethic, grit, and resilience.

The indulgent American parents who let their kids stop striving and “enjoy tomatoes” will regret not pushing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This poem is the mating call of the modern loser. Nothi g wrong with hard work and striving to be the best at what you do. What garbage.

Exactly. There is a reason why American med school classes and software engineers at unicorn Silicon Valley tech companies are disproportionately the children of immigrants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This poem is the mating call of the modern loser. Nothi g wrong with hard work and striving to be the best at what you do. What garbage.

^Why can't we all just get along?