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Kate Blake

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TEDCRED 50+

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Should parents set their children up for life, or empower them to be more independent?

This recently came to mind as I recalled how many 'new' Australians worked incredibly hard in order to educate their children. They knew education would be a key to survival in this new homeland but it didn't stop there.

They also bought their first car, first home, paid for huge weddings bringing family from their home country (Italian and Greek immediately come to mind). One daughter a solicitor complained to mummy, a cleaner, that the house wasn't big enough or in the right suburb. Mummy kept working to buy the right house ...

Others teach their kids right from wrong and often don't have the finances or diligence of these new migrants to pay for everything.

We each grow up differently according to our environment and expectations.

How did you grow up? Please share your story of what happened for you and the generation before and after you? Are there any lessons here?

Topics: challenges financial security life
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Closing Statement from Kate Blake

The words that arose were guidance, education, empowering - a "Balance" of the above.

Much thanks for your participation and to TED for the forum!

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  • Random Chance 30+

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    Jan 20 2013: Children today should be educated in how to dismantle their governments and create just systems rather than the unjust ones the world's population suffers under.
    Teaching them how to become successful in unjust systems means only a few will succeed while most will fall by the wayside and will suffer greatly for most of their lives.

    I don't know how anyone today can actually live with themselves particularly knowing that billions are starving to death, dying of thirst, disease, having no clean water to drink, and at the deaths of 20,000 children 5 years of age and under, every single day, not realize that keeping these kinds of unjust, unequal systems alive and learning how to be successful in them, is immoral, wrong and downright evil.

    Our world focus should be on different things, perhaps really the right things instead of what we think is important.
    I grew up being lied to about everything. Everything I was told was a lie.

    We humans survive, not I.

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