When I first had my child, I noticed that some parents are intentionally or unintentionally always competing. It’s like their children are the affirmation of their being. I would think it’s specially true in Korea where competition is so stiff. Parents expect a lot from their kids, pushing them to study hard, get into a really nice university and land a job at one of the big conglomerates in the country. (In the hope that they’d be taken care of nicely when they grow old?)

My husband and I often talk about how we’re going to raise our son differently, he isn’t an average kid here after all. His parents are from two different countries with different native languages. We often talk about our son’s future and what we’d like him to be when he grows up. When we see him dancing to Baby Bop Hop’s song (of Barney’s fame), we thought “ah he’s gonna be a dancer like Bi (Rain).” When we catch him disassembling his toy car, we’d say “maybe he’ll be an engineer someday.” And when we saw him imitating the news anchor on TV, we conclude that at his early age of two he’ll be a TV personality.

What do we really want our child to be when he grows up? It’s his life so it’s his choice. We’ll just gladly guide him and proudly cheer for him whatever he decides to be just like what our own parents did with us. Whether he decides to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, social worker, engineer or a traveler, we’ll be there for him as long as he’s happy and he’s not hurting anyone.

Posted for the 5th Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival