I have a 16-year-old son. I’m in my early 30s (had him very young) and a professional footballer. My son also dreams of becoming a successful footballer (he’s been playing since he was 6), but he’s just… not great. He’s good, but not great - and in this extremely competitive industry you need to be at least great in order to even stand a chance. So I told him, as someone who’s been doing this for a very, very long time & is active in this sphere, that he should find another, more attainable dream. He took it as me not believing in him, but I’m just objective and realistic.
When you punish a person for dreaming their dreams don’t expect them to thank or forgive you.
Should already be used to that. aka, being a parent. Some lessons have to be learned first-hand. Id still advocate for supporting their dream. My approach is generally to explain why I disagree and then support them while they find out the same thing for themselves and try not to say “I told you so.” Sometimes theyll surprise me.
The best ever second generation footballer out of Lemmy.
Probably not the same kind of footballer, but this also seems relevant…
Sometimes when people lose their dreams, they replace them with more unhealthy dreams…