in defense of poor molly

[sienna291973]

No: HPFGUIDX 95768

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, danielle dassero <drdara at y...> 
wrote:
 And Molly knows that the twins can do
> better and that's why she pushed. 


I understand and accept that Molly is *realistic*... still don't 
like the woman.  Parents do have the toughest job there is... hats 
off to all who try and do a good job. That said, parents have the 
power to leave lasting and life-long scars on their children. Not 
all kids can apply their seeming genius to academics.  

Molly could push until she was red in the face (and she did) - the 
twins would never have been bookworms... never.  There is something 
to be said for flexibility and trying to encourage your children in 
their areas of strength rather than trying to squeeze them into a 
box of your own making.  Look at Percy... all through the first four 
books we hear from Molly what an outstanding example Percy is... 12 
OWLS, Prefect, Head Boy, a rule-loving, law-abiding kid... the 
perfect son.  

And then, as in my experience also happens in real life, the perfect 
child turns out to be the perfect nightmare.  While the child who 
has always worn the flack, always heard how reckless they are, how 
rebelious they are... the one that has constantly been compared to 
it's sibling ('why can't you be more like Percy') is the one that 
turns out to have more honesty, loyalty, staying power and 
integrity. (Usually because they never lied and never hid behind a 
perfect image).

I've seen this happen in so many families, I think it must be an 
epidemic.

I'll say it again... thank God for Fred and George's natural self-
esteem. (Poor Ron unfortunately doesn't have it to protect himself 
against his mother's enormous expectations). There are some children 
who manage to follow their unique path despite all attempts by 
society and parents to mould them into the perfect child but most 
never find their uniqueness.

Sienna
*Taking a swig of fire-whiskey to calm down* ;)