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Ask HN: Do parents discourage their kids from goals the parents can't achieve?
For example, parents who are not good at writing stories might discourage their children from becoming novelists.
- JohnFen 2y agoI don't know, but I think not as a rule. In my experience, most parents want their children to have better lives than they themselves did, not to replicate the lives that they lived.
- amichail 2y agoBut maybe the parents think genetics matter a lot? If they don't have what it takes, genetically speaking, then their children probably don’t either.
- JohnFen 2y agoWell, I guess you can find parents who believe any random thing. But the question is only meaningful in terms of what the majority of parents do. With the genetics thing, parents who think that way have a distressingly poor understanding of genetics. Even if genetics do matter a lot for this sort of thing, genetic influences are rarely so direct, immediate in the genetic lineage, and determinative.
- beardyw 2y agoThey may find it harder to support and encourage them. But there is a discussion to be had about the child's likelihood of success. Most writers struggle to make a living and often need another job to survive. A certain degree of reality is needed.