The Road Less Traveled

I know their lives would be so much easier if I just let them do whatever they want, but I believe because I don’t, my kids are not considered “popular” amongst their peers. I know that older people love them because of what we, as a family, represent. However, they are not as well-liked amongst their peers as you would think.

Personally, I think it is because they are too strait-laced. They are not big partiers and they don’t do drugs, they don't blow through relationships, they spend A LOT of time with their family and they have varied, “different” interests. They don’t buy into society’s ideas of what is right. I haven’t shielded them from much, I speak to them in plain English and I tell them the truth when they ask about adult things, I don’t pretend that every adult has good intentions, I don’t pretend that everybody is honest. They have seen enough of what we have gone through to know that to be true.

They are aware...

I think that they are seen as being a little bit nerdy or maybe people perceive them as being judgmental and haughty. I don’t know...

I think that they have definitely chosen a “road less traveled,” and as a parent, it’s hard for me to convince them that they’ve chosen the right way. You don’t get anywhere in life doing what everyone else is doing... if you don’t want to be average, you have to make decisions that the average person isn’t making, you have to make choices that everyone else is not making. I have always feared doing what everyone else is doing and I want my children to always think that if they’re going with the flow and doing whatever the crowd is doing, they’re probably doing something wrong, or at the very least not challenging themselves or thinking outside the box.

So, to all of you “unpopular” people out there... don’t fret, I’m sure the Steve Jobs of the world weren’t the most popular kids in school either.😉