Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. I've seen hundreds of movies, read many books and scanned tons of magazine articles with the "not good enough" theme.

The tale usually goes something like this: "nothing I ever did was good enough for my Mom/Dad."

My tale is no different..it was my mother I was always trying to please.

As far back as my memory goes, nothing I ever did seemed good enough for her. That's a horrible thing for any child to feel. If you're not good enough for your own mother, how can you possibly be good enough for anyone else?

It was that way until my mother's death. I did my best to care for her during the last 8 years of her life, and I think I did a pretty good job. It just wasn't good enough for her.

I'm not looking for sympathy here, I'm posing a question I guess.

How and why do parents do this to their children? Is it because we want our kids to be the BEST and so we push them to constantly do better?

Are we trying to correct our own mistakes by making sure our kids don't repeat them? I dunno..what are the reasons?



It took me a long time to realize that I was good enough. I know now that all it takes for me to be good enough, is MY best effort.

Anybody else out there have to deal with this enigma?