My Dad is threatening to cut me off because I don't want to be a doctor

[cobrat]

<p>I had an aunt who was obsessed with trying to badger me into doing pre-med and becoming a doctor because “its practical and what “smart people” did”. </p>

<p>I retorted by saying I’d be willing to consider doing it if she’d not only pay for all my undergrad and med school expenses, but also all malpractice suits which’ll inevitably result from my becoming a practicing doctor in the medical field. That really shut her up pretty fast. </p>

<p>A decision which was only confirmed when I roomed with 3 medical residents and saw the insane long hours & topsy turvy schedules they kept. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see them for 3 weeks out of the month. Even biglaw attorneys don’t keep the insane hours the doctor roomies I had kept. </p>

<p>

While he didn’t threaten to cut him off, my uncle bullied his son into going to a mediocre state school, rather than an Ivy League school my cousin was accepted into, under the misguided notion that he would stand out at the state school and thereby improve his chances for getting into med school. So what happened? My cousin promptly flunked out his first year, meandered unhappily through life, constantly kicking himself over not going to the ivy league school he could have gone to and regretting decades later not following his own heart. My cousin will never forgive his father and they don’t speak anymore.

</p>

<p>A former supervisor/now friend had a colleague with wealthy father who threatened to disown him and cut him off from the family unless he attended Princeton. No other colleges…not even Yale or Harvard were acceptable. </p>

<p>Said colleague went along with his father’s order to attend Princeton and bided his time. However, karma caught up to the father as not too long after the father handed over a substantial trust fund, the colleague cut off all further contact the father and refused to have anything to do with him despite the father’s pleas over the years to see him out of paternal instinct. Having practically every meaningful choice micromanaged and dictated to you by parents who use threats…including manipulation of money tends to produce a rebellious backlash in most psychologically healthy adults…especially those who have a mind of their own and won’t buckle under the dictatorial dictats of others. </p>

<p>In short, parents should be extremely wary of the possible consequences of being too controlling and micromanaging over their kids’ choices. This does not include the fact that if they end up pursuing the parentally chosen path and end up failing or being extremely unhappy with their lives…the blame will inevitably and IMO…justifiably fall squarely on such parents.</p>