<p>Dear Lord, IP.</p>
<p>“I will stop clamoring for more rigorous academics in school”</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure everyone said the opposite. They said complaining to the teacher, especially in a group setting, is inappropriate. They also said walking in with an air of superiority proclaiming how advanced and bored your son is is inappropriate. If you work constructively with your son’s teacher and higher-level teachers in his school, then you can challenge your child. Depending on the age and self-motivation of the child, you and your child can also look into outside academic programs and at your local community college. NO ONE said to sit back and do nothing.</p>
<p>“I will also stop the piano and squash practices.”</p>
<p>If you have to force your child to do the practices and if he has no motivation to do them himself, then maybe you should stop them, but if he’s happy and wants to do them without daddy forcing him, mommy taking notes, and fear of disappointment, why would you stop them?</p>
<p>“Then I will sit back and watch things unfold.”</p>
<p>You’re a PARENT, IP. No one said that they sit back and do nothing. They make suggestions, they offer guidance, they force their kids to do some things when need be, but none of these parents said they sit back with a glass of lemonade while their child fails. It is important, however, for the child to learn if he does fail. The parent helps there, too, by the way. It’s insane to think that you think these parents would sit back and do nothing and let the children raise themselves.</p>
<p>“I think I will face some stiff resistance there from the kid, but again bribing should work out there.”</p>
<p>So, once again, you’re bribing your child to follow your agenda. If he wants to work for the competitions, let him. If not, let him. His life isn’t your lab experiment. Let him find his passions. If he finds that he wants to study, don’t stop him because you want to prove a point. If he finds that he doesn’t want to study, encourage him to find something else to do. It’s not working 24/7 vs slacking off.</p>
<p>“I am genuinely interested to see what happens when a kid is not asked to do anything. Does the kid figure out the short term vs. long term tradeoff and continue to put in hours and hours a day of hard work?”</p>
<p>I don’t think any parents said they don’t ask their children to do anything. They just don’t force them to partake in extracurricular activities in a part of some sort of twisted agenda. Of course, the parents teach their children about hard work and trade-offs. It’s not something you learn until it’s too late otherwise. It’s HOW you teach them that counts.</p>
<p>Congratulations, IP. You have managed to combine and exaggerate every parental post that opposes your beliefs. I’m sure your agenda is to get someone to admit that (s)he’s wrong, and that you are the superior parent. Parenting is not a competition. Parenting is done for the child. You need to learn who he is, not who you think he is before you flaunt your superiority belt. Please don’t hurt your child trying to prove a bunch of Internet strangers wrong.</p>