Did your children....?

It is quite normal to have ambitions for your children. I thought my daughter would go into space and my son become a sportsman of some kind.
As they grow, though you will be blessed when you see them develop into themselves and the paths they take will be as full of challenges, successes and disappointments as your own.
I am now incredibly grateful my children have grown into good people who have a moral outlook on life and care for their own children much better than I ever did.
Now I realise that the best success is seeing your own children becoming loving and responsible parents. That I consider our joint highest achievement.

Kate1949

I lived in a violent, abusive household. I was neglected, never had days out, holidays, pantomime visits etc. I had had nits. Aged 7 I was put into a van and taken to be deloused. I had one child. What I wanted for her was for her to be clean, fed, have holidays, days out, finances permitting. Be normal. I succeeded.

Well done Kate, you are so the best mum💐

Tenko I am another, in our case it was our daughter who wanted to act and went to drama school. She decided against acting as profession quite early, but became a self taught internet expert and worked for the BBC, first as a website content provider and later a sub-titler, before doing an OU degree in STEM subjects and changing course completely.

Kate1949

I lived in a violent, abusive household. I was neglected, never had days out, holidays, pantomime visits etc. I had had nits. Aged 7 I was put into a van and taken to be deloused. I had one child. What I wanted for her was for her to be clean, fed, have holidays, days out, finances permitting. Be normal. I succeeded.

You’ve achieved so much

I didn’t have great expectations from my two . I just wanted them to be happy , healthy and kind. And to be decent, thoughtful people .
My son wanted to be an Actor from the age of 10 and went to drama school at 19 . He was clever and went to grammar school and could have done anything. Several high achieving friends were shocked that we allowed him to follow the drama path . Rather than law etc . We wanted him to be happy and he did get work , mainly commercials and fringe theatre . But at 28 he decided he needed a steady income and moved to become an agent , which he loves .

DS exceeded our expectations (which, incidentally, weren't very high!). He was never highly academic, although he did go to university, but he had no definite idea what he wanted to do when he left. We often worried about him, not seeming to have any direction in life, until he met his lovely girlfriend (now my lovely DiL), and she encouraged him in his now chosen career, which he enjoys and is doing very well in. It's not a great earner, but he's happy, healthy and has a good life, and he's now a proud daddy to our two gorgeous little GDs.

Our younger DD did very well at uni (surprisingly!), and has a masters degree, but she did a complete turnabout, and ended up in a completely different career to the one she'd been studying for. A lot of wasted years, but again, she's happy, healthy and has a good life.

We're just happy that they're happy, which really is all we've ever hoped and wished for.

I didn’t have expectations for mine. I hoped that they’d turn out to be decent people with a sense of justice, and they have exceeded those hopes.

I did think that it would be nice if at least one of them shared my love of knitting, but it wasn’t to be .

Kate1949 well done 👏

Katel949 Good job - I am proud of you.

Three of my four children decided their future careers at young ages between five and nine years old and all of them were encouraged to follow their dreams and supported to find their way. All I wanted for them was to know they were loved and they do. All of them enjoy their work and have natural abilities. We thought the DS2 would either be an actor or a politician (same thing perhaps?) but at five years old he began cooking and now is a Chef. A very animated and boisterous Chef.

Kate that is the very best of achievements.

I lived in a violent, abusive household. I was neglected, never had days out, holidays, pantomime visits etc. I had had nits. Aged 7 I was put into a van and taken to be deloused. I had one child. What I wanted for her was for her to be clean, fed, have holidays, days out, finances permitting. Be normal. I succeeded.

As long as they were able to achieve their potential, that's all I expected of my sons. As it is, they both have successful careers, have weathered a few storms and are wonderful dads - in one case a doting grandad.

I thought all my children were exceptional. One was musically gifted, another was definitely going to be a ballet dancer, the great reader would be a successful writer and the last would be an academic.
Of course none of this happened and I’m very happy that they are all who they are.

I just wanted them to be happy and be their best in any career they chose.

DS decided on his future career when he was 4, and never really deviated from it and has had, and continues to have a rewarding and personally satisfying career. DD had a fun and interesting career for 20 years before a major career change in her late 40s has suddenly seen her fly. I have never seen her happier, more confident and joyful as she is now when she is finally achieving the potential we always knew was there.

Joseann - that made me chuckle 😂

My DH is a chorister and would have loved DS to do the same. The lad is tone-deaf!

My two seem ideally suited to the careers they have chosen. Happy, healthy and in employment fills my heart with joy.

We just wanted ours to be healthy and happy ,it took 9 pregnancies to bring home my 2 ,nothing else mattered .They are both hardworking ,good hearted and great parents ,THATS whats important .Not high flyers or huge earners ,at the end of the day none of that counts ,watching them with their own kids is a joy I feel privileged to see

As long as they are healthy, happy and able to earn a fairly decent living , that’s all we want for them. My three AC have achieved that. I now hope my GC will achieve the same - first of all, good health and happiness in their life. And, a decent living.

I just wanted them to be happy in whatever job they chose. I did think my eldest child may have been a performer of some kind but he chose the civil service so very different from my assessment.

I just wanted mine to be financially secure/independent, happy and healthy! So far all bar the youngest one have achieved this.