There were two boys from two different families,Kevin and Taylor were best friends, they knew each other since they were in kinder-garden. Taylor was a slow learner whereas Kevin had a really good grasping power. Kevin used to help Taylor in studies, both made a really good team. Years passed by and now they were in 10th. Kevin’s mother called him, “ This is 10th boards, if you don’t score 95 above, we would not be able to show our face to anyone, you have to be in top 5 in school, you have to make us proud, understood?” his mother asked him. “Yes mother, I will try my best.” said Kevin. “No! You should not only try but anyhow perform the best.” his mother said scolding him. Poor Kevin, he was upset even before starting 10th grade. The whole year Kevin worked hard and was able to score 94% and achieved 15th rank in his school. “Kevin!!! you have embarrassed us, now what shall we say to our relatives?” his mother scolded him. Kevin was very upset and cried in his room for hours. He had given his best and scored really good but his parents were not happy, it really depressed him. The unsatisfied reaction of his parents became a routine in Kevin’s life. A decade passed by, now Kevin was a software engineer, but he was not happy at all. He earned good and had a wife and children but something was bothering Kevin, so he decided to take a break and went to his hometown, there he met his friend Taylor. “Oh Taylor! Its been a long time man.” he exclaimed with joy. Both were talking and Kevin asked Taylor, “How did you end up doing so well in your career? You were just an average student and now look at you, you became a psychologist.” Kevin was really happy to see his friend doing good in life. “ Yeah actually all the thanks goes to my parents. They are the greatest supporters. When I scored 75% in 10th, I thought my parents will scold me and taunt me for life but instead my father and mother both sat me down and had a little chat with me, they told me that I was way more important to them, not my marks and they knew how much I worked for 10th , they said that when you become a psychologist, patients won’t ask you how much you scored in 10th? You can only treat me if you scored more than 95% , they won’t say that to me. The main thing is the therapy that I give to them, I should be able to help them solve their mental health problems, they should get better after the therapy sessions and if you are able to do that, if you are able to treat you patients properly then your mark-sheet doesn’t matter there, your skills matters. After hearing this I felt more motivated and I totally got the point they were trying to explain to me.” Kevin’s eyes were teary, so Taylor asked if he was okay? Kevin explained his situation to Taylor. “I get what you are going through, this is your childhood trauma and your fear of imperfection that is affecting you. You have OCPD( obsessive-compulsive personality disorder) It will be in your favor if your childhood trauma gets treated otherwise it can affect people around you too. Look Kevin, no one is perfect, we are bound to make mistakes and we learn from mistakes, one should never be afraid of failure. In your office there are so many software engineer but not everyone has same efficiency in their work, you will be more relaxed if you start enjoying the work you do rather than doing it under pressure of perfection.” Kevin understood what Taylor wanted to say and followed it, he even started behaving with his children how Taylor’s parents behaved with Taylor and Kevin finally started being more happy in his life.
Moral:
A lot of parents pressurize their children and want their children to be the best among all, Peer pressure, parents’ pressure, teachers’ pressure, students certainly have to deal with a lot. If parents become more supportive and understand their children, become like Taylor’s parents then your child will be able to do much better in life. After all it is important to do good in life than school. Parents have no idea how much even the slightest of things affect their children, so it is better if they try to see from their child’s perspective and always try to motivate them and react in a positive way. As parents, everyone wants whats best for their child so if you want your child to thrive in life then analyse their behavior understand them and deal with them in the most convenient way possible according to them.
