The Key to a Good Parent-Child Relationship? Low Expectations.
“How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. Click here to listen to his podcast series on all things happiness, How to Build a Happy Life.
Y “are high-minded, for they have not yet been humbled by life nor have they experienced the force of necessity,” Aristotle wrote in . “They think they know everything, and confidently affirm it.” When about “kids these days,” they are often taking an indirect swipe at their own young-adult children. I can just imagine what Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus, must have felt in return: Dad probably dispensed unwelcome advice (“No one will ever hire you with if you go around with your hanging off like a common delinquent”), made Nicomachus feel guilty (“Would it you to visit a poor now and then?”), treated him—you might have a peek at it”), and raised topics he didn’t want to talk about (“Should I hold a spot for you this year at the Lyceum?”).
