Wrong... my single parent mother was mentally ill which had a whole lot of implications. Certainly there were no expectations, no interest in my education, no enrichment, a lot of time spend worrying about her and because my dad is smart (and hated by her), smart was not a useful thing to be. Have finally accepted that smart is ok, though I am still struggling to find direction. But it's not all bad - as a result I foster my daughter's passions, embrace her smarts and work to ensure she understands the importance of effort in achieving her goals.
Right... well, not that I'd recommend it as a way of achieving it - but much of the above has given me exceptional resilience, a deep understanding of people's motivations and an appreciation of people's personal qualities - their kindness and compassion, loyalty and effort, etc. So if I like you, I like you for who you are, not how smart you are, how pretty you are, how much money you have in the bank, the job your hold or who you know. And so I will teach my daughter humility, encourage empathy and keep her grounded.
My parents (both of whom I love dearly these days - but they're much better with adults than kids!) wrote the book on how not to raise a kid and fortunately I have been lucky enough to learn from rather than repeat their mistakes (yay for smart!).
