Thoughts on events, music, books and the whole enchilada of my human experience

  It's been a good two months since the last post -- all apologies to my three or four readers.

Browsing through RPGnet, a great source for geeky discussions of all manner of topics, brought me this morning, by way of link, to this fascinating article in the Observer.

< Here, you should take a moment to look over the article. >


< no, really! >

Returning to our originally scheduled blog, already in progress -- can you believe there are parents out there that find this treatment of their sons and daughters acceptable, even preferable? I've wondered before about the level of control some parents wish to have over their kids. In extreme examples, such as the virtual prison camp described above, the parents are clearly valuing good behaviour in a disproportionate amount to happiness. But where is the gray area?

Is it the father who decides his son will follow in the steps of his own career? (I've known one like this.)

Or those "Dear Abby" mothers who need to decide every detail of their daughter's wedding?

Are these parents more concerned with their children or with themselves?

I guess I'm pretty loose about who my (at the moment, imaginary) children will grow up to be. My parents gave me a choice whether to go to college or not (though they definitely encouraged me to do so). They were happy with any academic interests I decided to pursue. They accepted Kim-Loi immediately. Really, outside of the reasonable amount of supervision any parent should give his or her child, they were pretty laid back, letting me find my own way.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but... my parents are kind of cool.

< cue that commercial where children thank their parents for invading their privacy >

< or, even better, don't >

posted by Jon at 8:48 AM