Conclusion

These five questions allow parents to reflect on a quote by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club: “First your parents, they give you your life, but then they try to give you their life.”⁴⁸ Instead of giving your children your life, try allowing them to create their own life free from interference. Provide a sense of hope. Allow them to have their own dreams. As they translate their inspirations to reality, help them to find their own way. Encourage instead of discourage. Allow your child an opportunity to understand what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1841: “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that… no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”⁴⁹ How often do you help your child till their plot of ground? Or have you tilled their plot of ground for them? Have you decided their college major for them? Or have you allowed your children to declare their own college major? “Students should be made aware that choosing a college major that reflects their interests will give them a better chance of succeeding and could also contribute to their satisfaction and happiness in school and on the job.”⁵⁰