While typically intertwined, voice and validation are only equivalent if you lack character or integrity, which by definition are voice in the face of oppositio

While typically intertwined, voice and validation are only equivalent if you lack character or integrity, which by definition are voice in the face of opposition. I'm suggesting that the author is struggling with precisely this: whether to hold to alternate values that will make her son happy, or encourage her child to seek the limited happiness founded in dependency on validation through achievement. In other words, she is conflicted about teaching her child anti-individualism or independence.