do what you want be what you do

This is exactly what we tell Anirud…. just follow your dreams. We do not want to enforce anything on him, especially our expectations. These manifest from what we could not accomplish in our lives. Therefore, we expect our children to be torchbearers of our unfinished business. How selfish, can that be. We consciously want to get away from this trap. However, we are also sensible of the fact that people need financial, economic and social stability to have a reasonably good and stable and normal life. Unless they are eccentrics or ingenious creators of anything in todays and tomorrow’s futuristic world. Then, you really don’t have any control whatsoever because they are beyond you and your thought process. Let them and leave them to what they are and what they want to do. However, we are normal parents, like any other, who expect some kind of rationality and stability in their approach towards anything they do. At this stage in life, we expect the child to study and do well…. At least until he completes his schooling as it’s foundational for everything one does after that. Also, sustenance of life is important in today’s competitive world. Nothing more, nothing less…perhaps it is too much of an ask…one might say…and another counterpoint could be…. it’s normal…. we all agree for one thing, to disagree. We might, though, agree on one thing, whatever we do, it is in the best interest of our children. Approach could vary from parent to parent, but the intent remains the same…. for the child to succeed…. now what success is, depends and varies from the point of view of both the Parent and the Child. There is no universal truth or correctness to it. it ultimately depends on the individual themselves and how content they feel about what they have accomplished or what they have in their lives…. material or otherwise (it could be inner peace for some) …. if they say they are happy the way they are and with what they have and what they pursue…. that is equal to attaining God, I would argue. Because, you have to be really saint like to be in that Zen state of mind.