I have a nephew who through his whole life has had a learning disability, and has always been a little socially awkward. Always. His family situation hasn't always been stable. Krazy, and his dad (who we refer to in my house as The Knob), were never a great fit, and well their relationship was never one made of strong walls. Needless to say they aren't together anymore but they still co-parent my nephew. Well...The Knob is still involved in his life anyways.
Regardless, my nephew has been busting his ass for the last year of school to get his grades up to get into Royal Military College. Now as horrible as this is going to sound, I've never been a huge supporter of this idea, because honestly I think that my nephew is a bit too socially awkward to be an officer, AS HE STANDS RIGHT NOW. He's young, and he doesn't know who he is yet, and going to RMC I feel would have never given him the chance to find out. Its NOT because I don't think hes smart enough, I don't feel he's mature enough to handle the responsibility that comes along with being an officer RIGHT NOW. However. Its the plan he was going with so I told him to go for it, figuring eventually he'd get his stuff together to be an authority figure if he really had to (trial by fire so to speak). Anyways. Not the point. He wanted it I told him to go for it.
Well. Turns out he didn't get in this year. And that's fine. Honestly. He's smart, gets good grades, for sure will get into University, so what does it matter if he puts off RMC for a year?
Well, apparently since he told his dad, The Knob told him that his life was over. That he would never be smart enough to go to school, and that he shouldn't even bother to graduate because he didn't need to graduate to get into trades school. That all he should ever aspire to is trades school. Well. What a great father you are!
NOW, this is not me poo-pooing the trades schools. I heart the trades schools, I think that if thats what you aspire to, that you should have atter. I wish I was more capable to do things like build things, or design things, or hell even figure out to program my damn VCR. It's not my cup of tea, and for that you should be glad because I would probably blow something up or set something on fire trying to fix something. If that's what you aspire to, I really think you rock (and thank you gratefully for saving my ass). BUT that is not what my nephew aspires to. At all. He has no desire. He wants to get a history degree (not sure what for but I have a useless degree that's taught me all about life so I say do whatever makes you happy and find a use for it later).
Where The Knob got off telling his kid that he wasn't good enough is beyond me. NOW this particular nephew and I don't get on all that well, because we see the world very differently and he has a very cynical view of the world (hence why he believes his dad is right about post secondary etc....) BUT I would never tell him he isn't good enough for something. So what he didn't get into RMC? I mean who hasn't had set backs? But! A parents job should never be to tell their kid they can't do something. And the worst thing is the world is that my sister has been telling him for all these months that he can go everything, and we finally get him believing it, and now his jackass of a father tells him in one weekend he can't and now he's decided that everything is a waste of time. And its heart breaking.
It should to always say YES YOU CAN. So you had a set back? WHO CARES. It just means you now have to take a different path to get what you want in life, and guess what that means? You get to try something new, and take a different approach. Who cares? If there is anything I have learned from being in school for the better part of a decade (and the majority of my life) its that you don't always get things the way you want them, but that having to take the long route brings even better rewards.
SO to any of those parents out there that have a child getting into post secondary. Want more for your children than for yourselves. Never tell them they can't do anything, and always encourage them to follow their dreams. AND NEVER BE A DICK LIKE THE KNOB AND TELL YOUR KID THEIR STUPID. You kids are listening to you, and you will burn in hell for being a jerk. And remember, they pick your resting home, and all I can say is that there is a nice spot in the same home that poor nice lady from Happy Gilmore, just waiting for you Knob.
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