My daughter is already old enough to understand perspective in her own way. She understands that her grandparents live in different towns and that we need to fly or drive to visit them. My two younger boys still think we can walk across the street to see them.
As parents, we build a deeper appreciation for perspective (or at least we should) when we visit different towns or countries. Each new person and culture we interact with should teach us how to make the world a better place.
I hope my kids learn earlier than later that they must strive to be the best at something or the world will pass them by. For me, I love technology and I love marketing. For others, it is writing, art, building, chemistry, biology…
Think about it this way:
World Population > 6,000,000,000
North America >300,000,000
Montana (my home state) ~1,000,000
Bozeman ~35,000
Chances are, no matter what you want to be the best in, you will have thousands or millions of people competing with you to be the best in your field.
Our kids shouldn’t be scared of this. The sooner they realize they will be competing with someone in Mexico, Belgium, Russia or China for their next job, the more they can appreciate the education and chances to succeed they receive in the United States. I know I am.
