Dad Explains Why Parents Don’t Need to Worry About Giving Kids a ‘Good Future’

A dad is going viral on TikTok for his video urging parents to stop worrying about giving their kids a good future—and to do this instead

One of the most stressful things about raising kids is looking forward to their future. What kind of life will they have—and how will you, their parent, set them up for it? How will you get them the best education? The most marketable skills? Keep them in good health? But one dad has an admittedly hot take on this: what if we all just stopped worrying about our kids’ future and focused on something else entirely?

Abraham Piper is a TikTok dad, and his video is going viral for suggesting that parents who are worried about giving their kids a “good future” might want to attend to the present instead.

“The future is uncertain,” Piper says in his video. “So, is it the best use of our parental energy, our love, to continue trying to achieve the impossible? Isn’t there something instead where the success could happen right now instead of 30 years down the road, if at all?”

@moreabrahampiper

Don’t worry about giving your kids a good future. ❤️ #parenting #lifeadvice #alisongopnik #dadsoftiktok #parentingadvice #liveinthemoment

♬ original sound – More Abraham Piper

He continues, “Don’t worry about giving your kids a good future! Give them a good past.”

Piper references Alison Gopnik’s book “The Philosophical Baby” and adds, “We actually do get to determine one very important aspect of our children’s adult lives: the childhood they bring into it. It’s great to be smart, rich, mentally healthy—all things we tend to want for our children, but it’s just as valuable to have the ‘ineradicable gift’ of a happy childhood.”

I’ll admit—I read Piper’s caption and I was ready to @ him. In a world where wealth and income inequality are increasing daily, and where generational wealth and privilege are no longer things parents can just choose not to pass on to their kids if they want them to live comfortably in the world, it’s not true that anyone has the luxury of simply not worrying about their kids’ future. But Piper does have a point, and a happy childhood is something so many people (*cough* millennials raised by trauma-hardened boomers) are missing.

So take Piper’s advice, and take your kiddos to the park, give them plenty of hugs at bedtime, and give them the happy childhood they deserve.