Wish my parents pushed me...

Yeah I know what you mean. "pushed" isn't the right word, but there needs to be a certain amount of leadership and encouragement for people to be successful (whatever this means!) rather than less successful and regretting it. Also, a lot of sports world champs DID have pushy parents, and because a combination of factors (the kid not getting sick and quitting, or whatever) means it is essentially seen to have "paid off", it's not considered as bad once the player is adult, rich etc. It doesn't work for the majority of people though.

Certainly a lot of people are very happy because their parents managed to get the right balance between being overboard and being under involved, but there are a lot of people with hands off parents who suffered because of it in the same way these kids will suffer.

I doubt that it would have made you better. I came up under a father who drilled me every day in sports and it didn't give me a better work ethic or anything. All it taught me was how to avoid doing any actual work so I could have a minute to relax. Most people don't have the work ethic and talent needed to get to the top but the point is to not give up. This applies to all aspects of life so if you want to go out and do something meaningful you can. Ultimately the best athletes are self motivated to be the best, very few of the greats had the crazy parents like in this movie.

Being "pushed" as these parents are doing is not the same thing as being supported and encouraged.

I wasn't "pushed" as a kid. I was the "good kid". The one no one really had to be concerned with. My accomplishments were usually greeted with an, "oh, that's nice." "That's good." "Good for you."

I was always at the top of my class. Got scholarships that paid for my education through the Ivy League. I went on to graduate school. Learned multiple languages. Traveled around the world. Held well-paying, cushy corporate jobs. I don't remember my parents once telling my how proud they were.

In any event, looking back on it, there was a time when I hoped my accomplishments would me the recognition I desired from my parents. Sometime around middle school I realized, it wasn't. So I accomplished things for me. Achieved things because I wanted them. I was supported in the sense that my parents were like, "well if that's what you want." Pretty much got the same response whenever I quit something. I was neither encouraged or discouraged.

There are things in my life that I consider failures. And while I recognize that they are related to my childhood, I also acknowledge that they resulted from my own decision making.

Anyway, my point is, there comes a time when you have to find it within yourself to move forward. You're 40. Your parents aren't responsible for each and every decision that has led you to where you are. Only you are.

You're only 40. You got a lot of years left. You have to decide if you want to make good use of them or not.

I don't trust people who don't like pets and I don't trust people who pets don't like.

It's tough to say. There's a balance between indifference and pushing. Parents who don't care about your grades either way and openly discourage joining clubs/teams or getting lessons or playing noisy musical instruments create indifferent unmotivated adults. My personal experience is that my good grades, boundless energy and curiosity all disappeared by the end of my teens because I noticed that it didn't matter to my parents either way.

Even if your parents had pushed you you are where you would be anyway. Most people can't be great at anything. Even these kids have nothing for them after college. So they can run and throw or hit a ball. What else do they know? Your plain and normal life is just fine.

Don't we feel like the deaf deserve better movies?

There's got to be some sort of happy medium between pushing your kids and being a tyrant like some of the parents in this documentary. I feel like it can actually become counterproductive when you're putting that much mental stress on them. Yes the preparation and practice makes them mentally and physically better, but the stress can lead to mental mistakes and lack of focus. I feel like these motivations have to come from within and that pushing these kids can cause them to lack it internally and they're just going through the motions to please the parent(s).

You're Football Dad, aren't you lol

Parents pushing kids is part of the job description...not one of the parents in this documentary did what qualifies as pushing. I hesitate to say the following without knowing more details about each situation but from what was shown, a lot of this is borderline abusive and completely counterproductive to producing a well rounded, healthy, non-bully, and successful human being.

TO THE OP: You say you wished you were pushed to the brink as a kid and would have preferred being yelled at and treated like these kids as opposed to what you actually had. Let me tell you this - you only say that because you were not treated as these kids have been. And also, you say you feel somehow deprived because you weren't pushed to do something great as a kid - why???? Where does it say kids must do somethings great - THEY'RE FRICKIN' KIDS DUDE!!! Where does it say the road to health and success is a great accomplishment as a kid? You have a life with many phases and each phase serves an important and useful function. The child phase is primarily to learn, screw-up, learn, try again, etc...but most of all, it's to get ready to be an adult. Success as a kid does not mean you're ready for adulthood - in actuality, failure is a far better creator of integrity and character than success ever will be ESPECIALLY when it comes to kids.

As for the rest - get up now and push YOURSELF (i.e.nobody else needs to push you) to go do something great as an adult which is when you have the best shot at greatness - so go get 'em...