Am I the Only One Thrilled to Have an Average Child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be happy if my kids turn out to be good people even if they dont have high paying jobs. As long as they can support themselves and are happy, I will be content knowing I did a good job as a parent.

That was my goal as well.

And I ended up with what is actually an above average talented wonderful young man who has his choice of many state unis with tons in merit money to boot.

Ok that would be icing on the cake.

[Anonymous]

Tons of research that points to you being ahead of the parenting game by accepting your child and not encouraging him to bust his balls to compete. He sounds like he's got all of the right tools to be successful (that is, if he weren't going to be an artist - gah! prepare to support him for life)

[Anonymous]

On this beautiful spring day, I think we should all rejoice and appreciate the children we have. Seeing them become well-adjusted young adults does give one immense satisfaction = partly because of what we have tried to provide as parents, but also in great measure to their work and life experiences. "Success" is a rather hard idea to quantify - we have a range of close to a 100 points in our daughters' IQ" so we have probably seen the spectrum. Each is a "happy, productive and successful" young adult in her own right, and each has been working now for at least close to 10 years. Enjoy Easter/Passover......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tons of research that points to you being ahead of the parenting game by accepting your child and not encouraging him to bust his balls to compete. He sounds like he's got all of the right tools to be successful (that is, if he weren't going to be an artist - gah! prepare to support him for life)

Could you link some of that research, please? I'm struggling to remain calm and supportive or my DDs in spite of this very competitive age of parenting. Reading research about accepting your child for who they are would remind me how worth it it is to lay-off a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm thrilled your child is average too. Because that means mine is BETTER than yours.

YES!

AND that must mean you're a better parent than me as well!

But in the end, as long as we're all happy in our lanes, does it really matter?

I'm an effortlessly better parent.

My only concern with the Art major is career after graduation. By all means, use that artistic ability in a "real" job while the starving artist thing takes off. My kids are only 16 and 14 so I'm not there yet. But I agree with you- be happy and don't worry about "success" so much.

Jumping in before I read the whole thread. I have an art degree. Fine art. Studio. I make a very decent living in an unrelated field, and I do not regret my art degree one whit.

[Anonymous]

You're thrilled to have an average child who, by your own OP, is light years ahead of where you were. I'm not happy with average, since I wasn't at 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're thrilled to have an average child who, by your own OP, is light years ahead of where you were. I'm not happy with average, since I wasn't at 18.

Yes, he is light years ahead of where I was at 18 (scary, I know, given what I've told you)...But I've achieved IMPRESSIVELY and ENVIABLY more than the average adult, proving that an average teenager does not always=lazy, average adult.

But I have 2 questions for you.

1. Were you naturally driven or shaped to be by your parents/environment?
2. What would you do if you had a less than driven/average child? Would you 'prod' him/her to be above average or let (hope?) the child grows into being more motivated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On this beautiful spring day, I think we should all rejoice and appreciate the children we have. Seeing them become well-adjusted young adults does give one immense satisfaction = partly because of what we have tried to provide as parents, but also in great measure to their work and life experiences. "Success" is a rather hard idea to quantify - we have a range of close to a 100 points in our daughters' IQ" so we have probably seen the spectrum. Each is a "happy, productive and successful" young adult in her own right, and each has been working now for at least close to 10 years. Enjoy Easter/Passover......

Thank you for this nice post. It and some of the others have been very inspirational to me this morning as I read through this thread.