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Why do some parents live their lives through their kids?

Children, as young as 10 are brought up by their parents to ‘break world’ records and some children have succeeded, whilst others have died trying.

For examples, sail around the world alone when you are only 16 years old or fly an aircraft unassisted when you are only 10 or swim the English channel in a cage to keep the sharks from eating them, plus many more examples.

My question is, are the parents doing this because it is their dream, they did not get the chance to do this when they were young, or is it really what their child wants to do?

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Answer #1

Well, when you have children you no longer have a life of your own. That child is your life. So maybe if someone has a child that they didn’t really want they make them do the things they wish they were able to do because now they cant do them themselves?

Just a guess, haha!

-M

Answer #2

From what I have seen, it is a bit of a competition thing. Like ‘look what my kid can do’ ‘mine’s better than yours’ kind of thing. It happens a lot with parents that never felt as though they had a talent. So they live through their child. As soon as the poor kid shows any interest or talent in something, they are pushed to be the best and often seriously injure themselves in the process. The same thing is seen in child beauty pageants.

You will often find that the child will leave home as soon as possible to get out of that atmosphere. Then the parents will buy an expensive show dog or cat and live through that.

It’s like they never got a chance to show-off at school or in their job. So they make up for lost time with their child.

Answer #3

I think its a bit of both.

The kid could really dream of doing something, and the parent gets involved and pushes them to do it.

It could also be though that the parent couldn’t do something, but they wanted to get as close to the experience as possible, so they make their kids do it.

I have a teacher whose father was in World War Two. After the war, there was stuff he couldn’t do, so he pushed his son to do it. That was so he could get the experiences he was never able to have.

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