As a parent I do ask myself if I raised my children to have unrealistic expectations of life.
The answer to that is that I have.
In saying that they can be anything, and they can do anything that they want, I was telling a lie, and I participated freely in the spreading of these falsehoods.
The reason being because we all want it to be true.
We ignore the fact that some things are beyond some people.
We don't acknowledge that for certain things to happen that we need to have specific doors to be opened to us, and without them the chances of securing a dream job, or life, can become so far out of reach that it really is impossible to secure it.
That is just life, and like children we pulled the covers over our heads and pretended that the world out there didn't exist.
We ignored something that couldn't be changed.
And we done our children a disservice from our lack of honesty.
A bitter pill to swallow?
Of course it is, but it is of our own making.
I also ask myself if I provided them with the skills required to navigate their way through adulthood.
And in a lot of that soul searching that I do I often come to the conclusion that I haven't.
Mainly because like everyone else I am still trying wrap my head around how to do it myself.
As a parent that is not an easy thing to admit, and I am aware that I am not a total failure in parenting, but there is nothing wrong with putting your hands up and saying I could have done better.
It is doubtful that anyone could honestly say that they couldn't have as we are all flawed in one way or another.
Part of the problem is of course environmental too.
None of us want our children to stand out as different from others so we strive to provide them with everything that everyone else has, and when we fail we feel that we are losing in the game of life.
By doing this we are adding this pressure to ourselves, and passing it on to those we love.
Another failure really.
Then, of course, there is the issue of technology and how it has impacted on society, but the reality about this is that mobile phones, i-pads, computer games, and everything else that we now see as basic requirements in life are inanimate objects, and we chose to make them an integral part in firstly our lives, and then our childrens.
You can't point the finger at a mobile phone and lay the blame of all the worlds ills at its feet.
We have all played our parts in bringing us to where we all are.
And why?
Because we don't want to be seen as losing in a game that has no rules.
Because we have been manipulated by the latest ad campaigns telling us what the latest must have is.
Because even if we are not swayed by them we are still a slave to this happening due to trying to fit in with those who are.
Anyway, this interview casts up more questions than answers, but it is probably time that we started asking them.
Maybe even time to lift our heads up and enjoy simpler pleasures.
I still have hope that my children will do fine, that they will find someone who loves them, cares for them as much as I do, and that they incrementally do a better job at this life thing than I have, and their children do a little better again.
The latest mobile phone isn't all that anyway.
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