16-year-old abandoned on birthday weekend to study for school while parents take 13-year-old brother on vacation: ‘It wasn’t right of her parents to exclude her’

Focusing on your kids’ schooling and future is important, but it’s easy to lose sight of the little things and moments along the way that are also important. Failing to nurture their unique skills and interests may cost them the chance to do something that they feel is fulfilling and rewarding and what they deem to be the success of their own lives. Also, pushing them too hard to be successful may be counterproductive and drive them into burnout, which takes years to recover from. Plus, we’ve spent the last 20 years pushing our kids into STEM degrees with a singular focus on success, and now some fields are so oversaturated it’s impossible for new graduates to get jobs in the fields they have studied anyway without the proper networking and connections.

Besides, there’s nothing like accidentally giving your kid a traumatic memory on their birthday that they’re going to remember for the rest of their life. And this uncle drew the ire of his sister and brother-in-law when he pointed out to his 16-year-old niece that he didn’t agree at all with her parent’s decision to abandon her on her birthday.