#BigParentingIdea — Clichés (And Bad Life Advice)
No one will ever love you more.
No one will ever know you more.
No one else will ever want only the best for you.
Sounds familiar?
Let’s do the unthinkable!
Let’s examine those clichés and see if they hold water.
My thesis is that we don’t know what’s best for our children.
It’s a myth that no one knows more about children than their parents.
They (children) can know more about themselves.
It’s a myth that no one will love children more than their parents.
They can love themselves more.
It’s a myth that no one will ever want only the best for us.
They want only the best for themselves.
No one in this world will ever know more about ourselves than we are capable of knowing about ourselves. We just need to dig deeper. Make time in our busy schedules to connect with our core.
We can know best what are our deepest dreams.
We can know best what are our limitations (what is standing in our way).
We can know best what we enjoy and what we despise.
We can know best what makes us happy and what makes us sad.
We can know best what kind of life we wish we had.
We can know best what success will look like for us.
We can know best what are our regrets.
We can know best what are our strengths and weaknesses.
If we frequently connect with ourselves / with who we are at our core, no one will ever be able to know those things better than we will.
Hence, no one can know better than our children what’s best for them.
Listen to your parents’ advice/ Follow your parents’ advice because no one will ever love you more, no one will ever know you more, no one else will ever want only the best for you is not a good life advice.
No one will ever love you more. That’s a first narrative all parents love. The true statement however is No one will ever care more about our survival and well-being in our childhood.
No one will ever know you more. That’s a second narrative all parents love. The true statement however is No one will ever know more about your childhood and what you were like as a child.
No one else will ever want only the best for you. That’s a third narrative all parents love. The true statement however is No one will ever care more about you achieving the predetermined version of success, happiness or good life than your parents do.
We don’t know what’s best for our children. We only assume that we know what’s best for them, based on our life philosophy, our definition of success, happiness and good life.
And there is a huge difference between knowing and only assuming what’s best for someone.
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