New Year advice on rethinking ambition, wealth, and goals

[GreenQueen]

Delighted and surprised to see this in a lama's advice for Tibetan New Year:

Do we want our next generation to be happy and successful? Then let us teach them a different meaning of ambition, wealth, and goals:

Let us not spoil our kids, because if we do, they will grow up feeling so alienated and depressed.
Let us not push them to grow up so fast.
Let us not make our kids think that winning a competition is so important.
Let us try to eat at home at least once a week.
And let us not over-shop and fill our houses with things we will never use for years and eventually discard.

-excerpt from "Losar Message from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche"

[Michread]

This is easy to say when you have no children and don't have to live in our current American culture. 

[arebelspy]

This is easy to say when you have no children and don't have to live in our current American culture.

On the contrary; I think that's exactly who he was targeting his message to.

I don't think he was implying it was easy, but that it was worth doing.

[gooki]

It all seems pretty easy to me.

[Tyson]

Delighted and surprised to see this in a lama's advice for Tibetan New Year:

Do we want our next generation to be happy and successful? Then let us teach them a different meaning of ambition, wealth, and goals:

Let us not spoil our kids, because if we do, they will grow up feeling so alienated and depressed.
Let us not push them to grow up so fast.
Let us not make our kids think that winning a competition is so important.
Let us try to eat at home at least once a week.
And let us not over-shop and fill our houses with things we will never use for years and eventually discard.

-excerpt from "Losar Message from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche"

You know, i feel pretty good about this list.  I think our family does a good job at these things. 

[arebelspy]

It all seems pretty easy to me.

For Mustachians who already have the anti-consumerism, stuff doesn't make you happy, etc. mindset, yes.  For the average person he was targeting the message to?  I think they'd find it hard to fight societal pressures, especially when they think buying that stuff for the kids is what you "should" do, and you're potentially depriving them otherwise.

People want the best for their kids, and think pushing them and buying them things is the way to that.

Easy for us that don't think that, harder for them.

[mrpercentage]

My son has roughly 31 Nerf guns. I think I bought one. Then told people to stop buying them for him when he had too many. They kept buying them. Then I insisted that if they go buy "another fucking Nerf gun" that it's staying at their house. Their house has a few Nerf guns and he supplies the neighborhood wars. #two-sets-of-grandparents #Hasbro

You know my step dad will load him with sugar and send him back to my house. He did until I got him back. I had him drink a Mountain Dew and dropped him off. That fixed it. Our whole culture is so bad at this. I'm not saying it's hopeless. Wait, no, it's hopeless

There is a lot of pressure. Arebelspy is right