<p>Whoa!! All of your kids are terrific, wonderful and very special in every way!! And all of you are wonderful parents! I never once meant to infer otherwise and please forgive me if I hurt anyone, that was never, ever my intention. So sorry. All I was getting at is that kids are different and that they each have different ways of getting to their goals. Believe me, living with an overachiever is not a walk in the park! While she is internally driven, she can easily walk past things that need doing in the house-things that would drive me nuts if left undone- and never see them. She knows her own schedule but forgets to let me know until I have to reschedule something of my own in order to make it all work. I had heard that over-achievers have “something wrong with them”, so I finally asked a therapist and was told that some are simply “wired” that way and that those that succeed are the ones that can prioritize in their minds and not drown in stress.Even though she has always been like this, but I wonder how much of her drive comes from being totally ignored by her father. They have no contact at all because he does not approve of her music studies and has steadfastly refused to even hear her sing a note. So you see, despite the successes, things are different under the surface. I share this so that you can see that the illustration of “different pathways to success” is an excellent one.
My other two, both boys, are totally different and all are a study in genetic recombination! The eldest didn’t figure things out until he was out on his own and is now very successful, but the youngest only bothers with what interests him and the rest, he ignores; drives me crazy.
What about the rest of you? If you have other kids, how different are they and do you think it could be tied to the artist in them? S1 plays Celtic Harp & guitar and is also very gifted in languages; D plays flute in addition to her vocal studies and languages also come easily to her; S2 played the oboe, but quit, and muddles through French, doing the bare minumum in school despite his amazing test scores. All have widely diverse interests but approach life so differently that it amazes me.</p>