For those who are creative types, did your parents attempt to force into a "more

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   gmwilliamsposted 12 years ago

   For those who are creative types, did your parents attempt to force into a "more stable, realistic
   
   career or did they support and encourage your creative aspirations and goals?

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   ChristinSposted 12 years ago

   yes and I resented it for awhile because I spent years trying to do something they deemed "more practical".  Sometimes I still get flack for being a freelancer, especially the tendency to believe that I have all the time in the world or that I don't work as hard as those who punch a time clock. When I was young I was always told what I could and couldn't do and what was "practical" and what "would never happen"... I believed it for a long time.  I wanted to be an astronaut or scientist originally and was told women don't do those kinds of jobs.  Be a nurse or a teacher.  Later on I found a love of art and was told art teachers don't make any money blah blah blah
   
   Finally I found the courage to give up pleasing others, trying to make myself fit a societal norm that isn't right for me, and just be who I am - the result is a much happier me   I do web and graphic design and I write.  I do Tarot and like all kinds of "kooky" things and that's who I am and what I was meant to do .  Great Question!

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   kj forceposted 12 years ago

   It is because of my Mother that I am so strong..her continuing persistence of telling me all my life I could not and would not ever amount to anything and was far from perfect...I chose to work hard in school and get all A's, be the best swimmer on the team..attended Art School..excelled at everything I did, regardless if I loved it..I sought to.get the best education I could ( scholarships ) sacrifice to get what I want. I graduated from Med School..and became what and did what I wanted...years have passed my Mother is gone and never once said how proud she was of me...I now write/publish books, poems and sketch everything I see..It's about living outside the box of life,where I have spent my years and because of her I accomplished these things, just because she said I couldn't...so in the end I lived my life for no one else but me...

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You are indeed a strong one and a survivor.   God bless!   Was your mother probably felt threatened by you and was jealous of your abilities which was why she constantly belittled you?

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   Distant Mindposted 12 years ago

   Yes, they did. It was really unpleasant. Luckily now as I'm developing this, they have started supporting me and what I do.

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   Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years ago

   My mother destroyed all my artwork and writing in grades 1 through 12 as soon as it came home from school or I finished my own pieces at home; and I was punished each time I received an award in art, music, or writing. At 18, I left that all behind and was able to do pretty well with creative pursuits again, except art (painting). Art skills run toward computer graphics more now. My last relative, except for the very distant, died in 2001; so did harassment.

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Why would your mother do this?  Was her act a subconscious jealousy on her part?  Please explain!

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It was a series of conscious acts from an unbalanced reality.

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   theroguereviewerposted 12 years ago

   My mom and dad were supportive of my creative attempts at drawing and writing as a hobby, but were always pushing me to go into something "practical" and something "I could use" as a fallback if things didn't work out. They still do, particularly my mom. I know she does it out of love, as she's worried about my well-being in an economic age where the job prospects for young people are so grim.
   
   But it is discouraging, in that even the language that they use belays an expectation that I won't succeed in my professional writing aspirations, or worse, to believe I have more than a long shot is misguided in the first place.
   
   It's difficult being 21 and really trying to put the elbow grease required into starting a writing career, but hearing my mom going, "Well that's nice, but you should REALLY be focusing on school and not all this other stuff..."

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   teresapelkaposted 12 years ago

   I'll be hopeless on the 'family torment survivor' side.
   
   Translation can bring good money, no one ever saw anything wrong with my language interest.
   
   Probably, you can try to tell your parents you know what you want to do and that you're going to be able to support yourself.
   
   Feel welcome to check my creativity out, https://travelingrammar.com

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   PDXKaraokeGuyposted 12 years ago

   Fortunately, my dad made his living as a musician so I never had to worry about the "get a real job" talk.

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   JeyDeeOfficialposted 12 years ago

   yes. both my parents are big business people and all they want is for to me take over their company. although I love them to death but the business industry is not the industry I'm interested in.
   
   they say being the head of a company is good, everyone is fighting for that occupation as you can sit on the chair and direct everyone to do stuff and you do nothing instead but money still goes into your hands and stuff like that.
   
   I feel that what is the point of sitting their and waste that freakin' precious time to do nothing and get money. I mean like, is money so important than spending time to create something bigger for the entire world?
   
   what I've always wanted to do is filmmaking. I don't have any relatives or acquaintances who work in the media industry but I have no idea why I love filmmaking so much, it comes natural to me. I want to use movies to deliver meaningful messages instead of just for sake of entertainment, and I hope these messages will be useful for people or will be able to positively change their lives, until when I die, I hope they will still find them useful.

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    My Minds Eye53posted 12 years ago

    My household was more of a "double standard" thing.  My dad asked me once why I didn't get a woman's job like a secretary, etc.  I told him I would be bored to tears.  He went around bragging about what I did after that.  In childhood I was never discouraged from drawing and writing.  We have writers and artists on both sides of the family so maybe that is why.
    My mother on the other hand had a not so secret wish I would be a nun.

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       gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Good to have encouragement.   I am too a creative type.  I love to draw and write.    My father wanted me to be a lawyer and he wanted me to attend graduate school.   After college, I wanted to work but creatively.

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    WritingPromptsposted 12 years ago

    Mostly it was "be realistic".  I wish they had been more open-minded.  As I've gotten older and experienced more of the world I can see many ways that being creative with just a hint of that practicality would have been fine.  I'd have a job I liked and paid decent. 
    
    Instead of being "realistic" they raised a kid that thought you had to make money like a doctor or lawyer to be "okay" and who didn't value personal satisfaction at all. 
    
    I really think it's a balance.  No one wants to be a starving artist (not literally starving) but for some, working a "non-skilled" job that gives them time to be creative is a reasonable trade off.  I gave up my IT job and now drive a truck for a living.  It doesn't use me up the way that my former job did - and I have the time and money I need to be creative as a hobby... and who knows, from that hobby I may create a new and more satisfying career someday.

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    assimilatedposted 12 years ago

    Yes, at first they did. But after they realized it was useless to use "the force" they tried to accept it. Today, several years later, they actually do. But that's only because they see I make a living with it :-)

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    Mazzy Boleroposted 12 years ago

    The saddest story is not mine but a teenage boy I taught in a computer class. While the class was laboring to create spreadsheets and databases, this boy would be surreptitiously sketching on an art pad he hid under the desk. He had real talent and passion for art, but none whatsoever for computers. His father would not allow him to study art and forced him to take a computing qualification. He was from an Asian family and at the time, according to him, Asian parents tended to believe that computers were the best thing to be in.  They didn't realize that wasn't true unless you had real aptitude for it. His son had great aptitude for art and could have been a professional artist or designer, which would have been a far more sensible route for him. Sometimes the "sensible" path is not sensible at all.

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       gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       This is so true.   This probably is one of the reasons why people are eventually fired from jobs- they were NEVER suited to them in the first place but caved into family pressure to get "the right" job i.e. to make a living.

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    CR Rookwoodposted 12 years ago

    My mother wanted me to be some kind of creative genius, especially in art. I was not a gifted artist but her mother was, and somehow having a 'stage mom' pushing me ruined a lot of my efforts for me. It didn't really help me, it just made me feel like if I did well she would claim credit, and if I didn't do well she'd never let me rest. She would actually go to school and argue with teachers. It was very humiliating.
    
    I was always good at writing but my dad told me to put it aside, since historically speaking, women could not become truly famous writers due to the baby/domestic duties thing. That's what he believed. I guess he never heard of Emily Dickinson.
    
    This was 50 years ago, when the world was a very different place. I quit blaming my parents for stuff a long time ago. They were every bit as confused as I was. Basically they wanted me to be a genius or a wife, those were the options. lol! Glad things have changed for the better.

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    Beata Stasakposted 12 years ago

    I have been born dreamer who prefer live up in clouds, my mum used to tell and tried hard for few years I lived with her, on and off to make me more practical and more useful. Artists and dreamers have been always looked down on in the Communist country I was growing up. As a child I have always felt different, strange and useless. I was sent to Business College to improve my attitude and the only good thing I have done there was establishing 'The School Magazine' with interviews of teachers and with my and other students'  poems and illustrations. The magazine became very popular but my future as a future accountant was very bleak and it didn't change...finally I was transfered to Teaching College where my imagination and creativity proved somehow useful...

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