Karla Ortega

Ms. parrish
English 1010
April 4, 2016
Be anything you want to be, just not beyond the limits.
Juan is a very deceitful man. My mother grew up along with her five brothers and two
sisters. She was the middle child so she never had to deal with any drama. Everything was
going great until Juan came along. Juan is the youngest one of her family, my mom believes that
he was spoiled by my grandma because my grandpa passed away a month after he was born. My
mother describes him as an angry person who always got his way by whining and crying. She
even believes my grandma thought he was the most superior among her kids.
The chances of him maturing in his adult years were very small; even to this day, it hasnt
happened. My grandma always gave her child everything; she believed that he could be
anything he wanted and she made sure that he knew that. Was it her fault for the way he turned
out? Could it be that she contributed to his idea of thinking that he was special and that he could
be anything, or even do it better than anyone else? There are many parents who believe that their
children are special or that they can be anything they want to be; some people believe that it is
wrong and there are many consequences to that.
On February 18, Erika Reischer wrote an article titled No, honey, you cant be anything
you want to be. And that is okay. Reischer is a psychologist and a parent who deeply objects to
telling children that they can be anything they want to be( for many reasons). This is a very
controversial topic, but I consider her thoughts. Her article holds some examples that back up
her claim.

To begin, Reischer starts her article by discussing her experience with her son. She
informs the audience that a book was gifted to her son. titled You Can Be Anything.
According to her, its images were all of snoopy being superlative in everything he does
(reischer). Reischer explains that she didnt mind him ripping the pages, I deeply object to its
core message. Her claim was very obvious in her introduction.
Reisher gives an example of an organization that stretched goals for their employees;
those goals were intended to motivate high performance. Later, they found out that those goals
had very negative side effects. Reischer notes a researcher: when employees care exclusively
about reaching a goal, and bad things can happen if they fail, cheating goes up. She sees this as
a side effect of pressure, along with chance of success.
Telling kids that they can do anything- whether fueled by imagination or hard workobscures the critical role of chance in success. (Reischer).. Reischer believes that the chances
of success dont always work, even if the person really tries or works hard at it. She states that in
every successful story, there has been good fortune. In other words, talent and a lot of luck can
mean high success. Reischer goes on in her article discussing that life also gets in the way when
we are trying to get something done.
Reischer believes that there are statistics that show that not every child can grow up to be
the president or a supreme court justice. She believes that there are physical, mental, and
environmental factors that blockade success. Her examples are genetics, accidents at birth, and
chance. In her opinion most of us will be average ( Reischer).
Reischer goes on in her article to express her conclusion in which she wonders why so
many parents dont like the idea of having average children. Reisher states, lets ask ourselves
why we mourn the idea that our childrens futures are not limitless. This means that as a parent

and a psychologist, she feels like it is okay for children to not be highly successful. With that
being said, not everyone agrees. Some of the points she stated - I certainly dont agree with.
First, I do not believe that when employees care exclusively about reaching a goal, and
bad things can happen when they fail, cheating goes up. (Sears researcher). This to me does not
connect with her main idea from the article. I dont believe that cheating at work is influenced
by parents telling the workers that they can be anything they want unless the child wanted to
grow up to be a cheater. For the second part, I do not agree that chance of success applies to
realistic goals. In my opinion chance of success only applies to very unlikely situations, like
hollywood star, professional dancer, etc. Of course, Reischer has some great points that make
her article appealing.
To begin, I agree that genetics, physical and mental abilities play a huge role in chance of
success. There are certain things that stop us from achieving what we want (Im sure we can all
relate). The other topic I agree with is that many of us do not like the idea of being average or
having average children which I believe is normal among our society.
I think that the desire for survival has become scarce for everyone. We are so worried for
our basic needs that it affects us. Most people have been impacted by something in their life
which hasnt been positive. It is a natural reaction for a parent to want the best for their children.
We should be honest with our children and be honest about what is possible and what is not
because being too hard on them can affect them and crush their dreams, like my moms brother
believing that he was the best, it brought him a lot of bad luck into his life. He is now 32 years
old and still lives at my grandmas house. He is unemployed and addicted to drugs. I believe
that in his case, my grandma went too easy on him and it is too late to fix him. In this situation,
the saying you cant teach an old dog new tricks. becomes true.

This article has definitely made me see life from a different perspective. Not only did
Reischer got her point through, but she made me realize that I shouldnt spoil my future kids too
much. Rischer proved that the side effects have a negative impact in kids lives. In my uncles
case, I would not put all the blame on him. My grandma had some fault as well because she
raised him. Im sure it was not easy to be a widowed mother, but her unfairness made an impact
in her other children.
We should all consider being a bit softer with our kids when it comes to school
expectations. Rewarding them for their success on getting an A on a test is a great way to
encourage them and motivate them to keep trying. Being tougher on them would apply when
children are whiny. We would not want to spoil them too much to the point where they become
brats. I do not hold anything against my grandma because I love her but I certainly have some
pity for her.

Works cited:
Erica Reischer, The washington post, No, honey, you cant be anything you want. And thats
okay February 18, 2016.