If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that change how we live?

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by rr808 on Thursday January 01, 2026 @06:36AM (#46453300)

My kids go to a stem focused magnet school. I realize different cultures value different things but its depressing to me how many kids are pushed to dedicate their whole childhood to get into top Universities. We'd go to the beach and their friends couldn't come because they were doing extra APs or science fair or Math Olympics or similar. These kids got good grades but never went on a date, couldn't drive or go anywhere by themselves.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by sokoloff on Thursday January 01, 2026 @06:44AM (#46453353)

I was partially (largely?) one of those other kids. Honestly, I loved it and, though it wasn’t perfect, I definitely wouldn’t re-roll my childhood if given the chance.

Later in life, I managed to catch up in dating and other aspects, but kept a good streak of nerd pride and am totally happy about that.

If you were to have observed my childhood and got depressed about it, that interpretation would have been misguided.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by skjadhs on Friday January 02, 2026 @02:04AM (#46462185)

Stockholm syndrome. And also you were force to invest a considerable amount of time in a specific activity.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by sokoloff on Friday January 02, 2026 @05:09AM (#46463306)

You say "were force[d] to"; I say "chose to".

Only one of the two of us was there.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by NuclearPM on Saturday January 03, 2026 @04:11PM (#46481610)

Which one?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by rr808 on Friday January 02, 2026 @09:32AM (#46465110)

Yeah you're right, I was a pretty geeky teenager myself. Its a tough winner takes all world, maybe working your ass off in HS is a good strategy that I messed up.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:If childhood is half of subjective life, how should that ... by ErroneousBosh on Friday January 02, 2026 @07:20AM (#46464079)

> These kids got good grades but never went on a date, couldn't drive or go anywhere by themselves.

One of my friends in high school was like that - always studying, always doing extra classes. Straight As even without it, good grades, six highers one year and another two and four CSYS by the time he left. Then off to Uni where he got a first with distinction in Business Management. He never did anything but study, although he did play football a bit.

In the intervening 30-odd years he's mostly worked as a deputy manager in a supermarket in a small town maybe an hour's drive from the slightly smaller town I live in. He's never done anything else. Moved a couple of hundred miles from where we went to school, got a job, worked his way up to assistant manager.

I see him sometimes in passing when I'm working up that way.

We must imagine Stephen happy.

[ Parent | on HN ]