“if their kids wanted to have the same life as them” What child, or even young adult, knows what “life” they want? Children know what they have experienced gr

“if their kids wanted to have the same life as them” What child, or even young adult, knows what “life” they want? Children know what they have experienced growing up. Perhaps their family members lives and a few friends, probably in the same social-economic group. And that’s basically it. They would naturally default to their current experience as a goal if asked, but what life do the kids actually want? The answer takes maturity the children don’t have. So adults step in to try to ensure the kids at least have the option of treading water from a class standpoint. Probably some parent ego in there too. Leads to a hypercompetitive parent-driven child experience for the wealthier classes and had, in the 60s/70s in the US, eventually led to rebellious self-directed life changes (good/bad) by the affluent youth. The idea that the rich kids could and should make their own personal choices with their lives, independent of societal or parental expectations, was a very dominant theme in late 1960s/early 1970s US/Western European culture. Takes a special type of person to make downward mobility work, but it can be done. Usually faith, spirituality and the arts play a big role, as well as the hide of a rhinoceros. Addictions are another route, but that’s not really making it work in my definition. Because working your butt off is foolish if the only “space underneath the sun” you eventually earn is a burial plot. As a great truth, the opposite is also true of course.