Can’t your kids be NORMAL?

Is it so difficult for parents to digest the fact that their kids are just NORMAL??? Why can’t there be normal kids in this world? Why does every parent want his or her kid to be an achiever? Why does every kid have to grow up to be either a doctor or an engineer or and astronaut? How often does a parent realize the constraints of their kid? Do kids epitomize status of an individual like other entities for example real estate, money, jewelry, etc.? If no, why do parents have to show off about their kids? Why does one have to boast about his or her son getting into of the premier institutes of the country? Why does one have to show off about his or her girl getting a white-collar job in one of the “Fortune #” MNCs? Heck, don’t I have answers to my questions?
It might be just normal for every parent to expect their kids to perform extraordinarily well in all walks of like and grow up to be an achiever. I wonder how many of them realize the tormentation their kids have to go through to live up to their expectations. When schooling, you are always expected to top. When participating in a competition you are expected to win. You are to get into the best of institutions for your under-grad and grad. You are to get into the best of companies meaning a white collared job with a hefty paycheck coming your way every month. I’m not complaining about what is expected of us, but how often have failures been welcomed? How many of us accept failures in life with grace? Well the answer is almost none of us, rare are people who can and for all those “Salutations from the bottom of my heart”. But, for the rest of us, have we ever thought why is it so difficult for us to accept failures and move on? The fact is that we have never been trained to. Failure is just a part of life, so is success. When success gives you so much elation why not failure? We have almost forgotten the joy of playing just because we play to win. Yes, sad but true.
I have always been an underachiever and believe that I was never able to live up to the expectations of my parents and friends and this guilt kills me. This grows manifold when I come across people who have to show off their kids as status symbol. Fine, if you are kids are brilliant and grow up to become Abdul Kalam Azad or Sunitha Williams (no offense to these great people, I completely respect them) but, there are kids in this world who are just normal.
My plea: “Let them be”.

Let there be peace. .::V::.
Cheers to Life!
~M~