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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Gillian Harvey

The ‘work hard and you’ll get a good job’ mantra is no longer true – so what do I tell my kids?

‘Without goals and dreams to fuel the fire of their ambition, how can our children find the motivation they need to push forward?’
‘Without goals and dreams to fuel the fire of their ambition, how can our children find the motivation they need to push forward?’ Photograph: Juice Images/Alamy

When I was a child, back in the relatively halcyon days of the 1990s, I had my fair share of angst – friendship problems, homework, sibling rivalry and appalling fashion sense. But one thing remained clear and stable: the advice I was given on how to achieve the best possible life.

In those pre-digital days, this was imparted by a few trusted adults: teachers, relatives and parents. And it rarely wavered from “get a good education, choose a good career and climb the ladder”. There was an implicit understanding that if you jumped through the accepted hoops between childhood and adulthood then success and happiness would be your reward.

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