Did your parents prioritize academics? And how? My uncle does not let his kids have eny leisure time and actually bullies them into studying nearly all waking hours. The kids are all “nalaiq”, have not bothered to learn basic English in Pakistan, and have incredibly naive dreams of attending top-notch schools in the West. But another uncle and aunt did the same with their children except they enrolled him in extracurricular activities like golf and polo as well. Their kids are doing fine. They are not academically exceptional but they are confident and intelligent because of all the extra-curric. activities and will succeed because of these qualities.
In contrast, my parents did not stress academics much. My father, who studied physics in graduate school, taught me math and sciences for some time. My mother helped my sister with French but they stopped when we entered our early teens. But learning was always a priority; we were encouraged to read in our spare time, grew up loving the library with our vacations starting when, on the first day after classes, we got a couple dozen books. Though we are girls, my father did not let us do any housework and we were encouraged to spend our time studying. We are in our twenties now and school is our priority though I am married and she will probably be soon. Our parents do not want us to stop studying / working with marriage.
When I have children, I plan to enroll them in extra-curricular activities and make education a priority above everything else, including family I suppose. I want them to do very well in life. I want them to go to top-tier schools or work on something else they are passionate about (e.g. sports or art). I am afraid of being a tyrant like my uncle however.
How should we raise our children so that they are exceptional?
I ain’t raising whiny nerds!
). Dad lectured us, he was always very calm and cool. now that i’m in college, they don’t know exactly how I’m doing, I dont’ tell them if i failed a class, if i’m having trouble, etc.