REBELS, REPLICA OR RESPONSIBLE?

I once stumbled upon an article with this question. It had a cartoon representation of parents and three categories of children. The first category were children of some rebellious sort, the second consisted of children who lived exactly like their parents with all their imperfections and the third category were children who lived responsible lives of their own.

One of the tasks most people would not deny being challenging is that of raising children. We all would have experienced scenes of this task being played before us as parents, children, uncles, aunts, nieces or nephews.

As parents, we have big dreams and aspirations about the individuals we would like our children to become, how much good we would be able to tell people about them and how they would make us proud. We make sure they attend the best schools we feel would provide solid grounds for our dreams about them to come true. For those of us who are professionals in our field or the “happening people” in the world of business, we want them to pursue same careers as ours so they could one day take over our business empires. One thing most people tend to forget is that every individual has a different configuration thinks differently and can never be exactly the same with some other person. They have their unique thinking pattern, what amuses us and catches our fancy might not do so much to them as more than a smile.

Some of us parents even go as far as trying to influence their choice of marriage partners, the type and kind of person they should get married to and what family background that person should come from.

In contrast, I think parents should support the line of dreams of their children not forcing theirs on them. I am not saying we should support what is not right. I would not rule out the fear that comes with the fact that a child might choose a career path that seems weird but that is where parental wisdom is given the whole stage to play its role. As a parent, you could ask the child why he or she has chosen that career path and how he or she thinks life would be good having to do that, then you carry out some researches on it as to know better what advice to give the child.

I believe having children that are responsible is best compared to having rebellious children or children that are a total replica of you even with your faults and short comings.

I am sure many of us would have had some experiences of this sort either as parents or children, I would like us to share some of this experiences.

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