Cliche Manifest

Chapter 10: The Ravages of Competitive Parenting

Wednesday, November 14. Anna releases another chapter in Falsebound Kingdom to Wattpad and then updates her word count on NaNo's system, with 2 badges flashing on her cell phone: the one for updating word counts for 14 days in a row, and the one for hitting the 40,000-word mark. That was before Garuda arrives on dinner break.

"You know an awful lot about electoral campaigning; I wonder what coursework you took in political science..." Garuda asks her after reading Falsebound Kingdom a little deeper.

"I picked two politics electives in college, one on Congress, the other on partisanship. I once considered majoring in political science, but I realized quickly that I didn't like where it led me: consulting, law school or public policy. If you knew how many students, in political science or economics, at the University of Chicago majored in these fields not because they were interested in these fields, but because their parents pushed them to do it and into specific careers..." Anna sighs, while she is reminded of the relentless pressures some of her clients feel to attend Ivies or equivalents. Like UChicago.

In a sense, I was lucky compared to other UChicago students. The region of my childhood didn't have competitive parenting the way HoCo or MoCo do; at least UChicago understood there just wasn't a whole lot that could be done in impoverished rural areas. I was the only incoming first-year student from Southwest Louisiana at Chicago that year, Anna reminisces about her background and upbringing.

"You have been exposed to the negative consequences of competitive parenting through your clients, and their parents as well" Garuda tells her. "I wonder if that's the kind of environment you want for your kids"

"Of course not. I might have the luxury to be able to practice in an area where parenting isn't so competitive, but some other parents might have their hands tied by their jobs. The kind of areas I can think of where parenting isn't unhealthily competitive might not be an area where the adults are as affluent or educated, however, these places tend to be tighter-knit so it's usually clearer to people around you whether the kids are in trouble"

"At the same time, there is not nearly as much opportunity for organized activities available in rural areas, and what you do have is mostly online if it's not sports"

"I guess I should have told you earlier, but I grew up in Southwest Louisiana. It might be a little impoverished, at least compared to HoCo, their idea of a gifted girl was, well, my teenage self... It was nice talking about what I want out of parenting to you" Anna then returns to the waiting room for her next clients.

Sometimes, parents need therapy, too. Stressed out parents can be dangerous to themselves as well as to their children, Anna ponders the implications of poor mental health on parenting.

When the turn comes for the teenage child to speak up, he voices his displeasure towards his parents' attitude about school and extracurriculars.

"I feel torn apart: I need to play well in quiz bowl, I need to do well in chess, in mathletics, in track, I interned at Lockheed Martin last summer, and I need to maintain good grades all around, on top of that! I feel like my parents treat me like a circus animal!" the quiz bowl-playing client laments in front of his parents.

"We're doing you a favor: in the working world, you must perform no matter what, and you will be only as good as your last reporting period! Or at least for the jobs you seem headed for. And office politics can be ruthless if you underperform! That's why we love you conditionally: the real world will love you conditionally, and it's a harsh reality people often learn too late for their own good. Now, the conditions themselves are very situational, but you get the idea" his parents retort to him, when the kid voiced his displeasure.