MacGuffin
Permabanned
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
- Messages
- 10,710
- MBTI Type
- xkcd
- Enneagram
- 9w1
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
Mac and I've talked some before about this sort of thing, so it's not too surprising that I agree with him here. School, chores, and behavior was *everything* to my parents. If I did that (and excelled in the standardized metrics by which such things are officially measured), things were fine. But there was always the stress of expectations that seemed at once too much and at the same time lacking resonance.
If I could change anything (realizing that I had it darned good, don't get me wrong), I'd say to push a little more in some areas, particularly in fostering an outlook that life wasn't about much more than work and money. Those are lessons that have served me well in a lot of ways, but for example, I was surprised reading this thread and seeing that people *did stuff* like sports, museums, talk about current events, etc. with their parents. With me that happened maybe once a year... tops (less as I got older). Things like art, travel, history, etc. really had no place -- except of course, that I was expected to get good grades if I encountered such topics in school -- but although they never said it, my understanding was always that I was to take elective courses that would serve to get into college, etc.
Yeah, what type were your parents? I don't know if was just an SJ mentality or a midwestern one. Growing up there you weren't going to bump into anyone famous doing something unusual (unless you went looking for it) - unless you count pro athletes. So the idea of doing something "different" wasn't really ever a subject. Go to school, get a corporate job, have a family. The End.
Not a horrible life, in some aspects a very good one, but not the most interesting one either.