Yesterday a friend of mine asked her children how they define success. That's a brilliant thing to do. We get so busy driving forward, mentally, we can miss the point of arrival. The human brain is hardwired to keep moving and I've watched a lot of folks miss the point of their work, work at things they clearly hate, and agonize in pursuit of the wrong goals. Or at least, goals that aren't likely to offer fulfillment. When asked, "What is success?" Her 10 year old replied, "It's too changing. You can never say." I love how self aware that is and how well it reflects the nature of reality. What 10 year old has fixed goals? How many adults do you know who are so self aware? I got to wondering how my children might respond. So I asked them: How do you define success?
first teen response:
"Being happy with what you do and having it come out to everyone's expectation. Which is hard to do but..."
second teen response:
"Achieving what you set out to do or exceeding your expectations."
Interesting how grades don't come up for any of these homeschoolers. Though its possible to guess which response comes from a girl.
My goal for them was that they be independent in adulthood, and have sustaining relationships with family and friends.
ReplyDeleteI also liked your post about living together. We have all these separate homes, separate camps, and it would make sense to me to pool our resources and share--far more efficient. But that's not the cultural way.
Anyway, that is all. love you, Val