The #DreamForMyChild spot from MetLife resonates if you let it #ad

This is a sponsored post from MetLife.  All thoughts are our own and we’ve been compensated for creating this.  The online ad from MetLife is creating some buzz.   This MetLife spot was shot for the Hong Kong market but resonated so deeply with that market that it was opened up to a wider audience.  Know that fact as you watch the ad, the way it’s presented and how it makes you feel.

So what is it that you want for your child?  At times that is the million dollar question when you’re a parent.  We wrote about how parenting from a counter programming is not always the best course of action.   However at its core we simply want them to be happy.

Before you cue the eye rolls for the hokey answer, hear me out.  ‘happy’ is relative and will be well defined with the peaks and valleys that will take our kids down that road.

For example, when I was a child I wanted to go into radio.  ‘No’ was the answer from my parents.  It would’ve been better to say;  “well, that’s great that you want to go into radio, but you should know that the hours are long, you’ll move around the country and there’s very little job security. “  Talk the pros and cons through of anything with your kids and your odds of success will be much higher.

Even now our young children know when I’m delaying the truth.   They know that mommy and daddy work very hard, but sometimes they can’t or shouldn’t have everything that they want.  Children, even at this young of an age know when mom and dad aren’t telling the truth.

Happy, can mean anything and we will guide and teach upon the meaning of that and the different routes you can take to get there.  We’ll also explain to them that the route will be twisty, full of ups and downs, where nothing is guaranteed and sometimes what seems like a cul-de-sac is actually where you’re supposed to be.  As long as you are happy.

I’m very happy, but my life was full of pretzel labyrinth turns that I half expected to see David Bowie at any moment with some large puppets.  I don’t foresee the dream that I have for our children changing over time.  Granted we will guide them, explain to them what’s going on, but we’ll also let them fail.

The dream for our children is also a moving target, as it should be.  When our children accomplish something that they worked hard to achieve I want them to celebrate it and enjoy what they’ve done.  Then I want them to keep dreaming.