Parent Child Missions

Overview

The parent's mission is to make their child able to function well in the world. They do this according to their understanding of the world, which will generally be misaligned with the child's world view, increasingly through the life of the child as an adult.

The child's mission is to be successful on their own terms. Since this is unlikely to align with their parents' world view, they should avoid measuring their success by their parent's judgment.

On Choice

1. People are human, they have strengths and weaknesses. If a person doesn't have a particular strength, don't seek for it from them.
2. You can't choose your parents.
3. You can choose your friends, at least somewhat, though some will be friends of friends or contextual associates.
4. You can and should be intentional about choosing your life partner.

Therefore:

1. For the people in your life that you cannot choose, accept their strengths and weaknesses. Encourage them to grow and tell them your needs, in a healthy fashion, but avoid expectations.
2. For the people in your life that you can sort-of choose, focus your relationship building on the ones that give you what you need.
3. For the people in your life that you fully choose and make an intentional choice about, identify your most important needs and seek alignment on those points.