Wally Bock

I always hated products that were blatantly "educational" as it implied that you could not learn things from life and your experience.

We let our kids play too many video games and eat less healthy than we would prefer (though not for lack of trying) but hey – they are kids.

In my view, it was always the boomer parents trying to script every aspect of their kids lives and trying to make sure everything was "educational".

But whatever…

Note – I guess these are the types of questions that I wished I had asked and mayby I would have ended up in a company like Miriam when I was first employed. Thankfully I left that company a long time ago.

Qu – Am I required to be contactable on the weekend? Are there any activities that are conducted as an organisation on a regular basis? Who is my immediate supervisor – can you tell me about them? I would love to see a post on the types of questions that you should ask and the follow up comments. A lot of time we are so focused on just getting a job that we forget the relevent questions that affect our lives. Random thoughts.

My mother was very depressed when I was growing up, and it had a huge impact on me. Facing similar issues in my 20s, I am frightened that I will pass on the same anxiety to my own kids (when I have them). I've found that reading blogs, books, really whatever I can get my hands on, is shaping how I will parent some day.

When I asked my mother why she never thought to research what was happening to her and how her depression could impact me, she said nothing was available back then.

Milena makes a few points about Europeans but neither your observation nor hers about dramatisation applies to ALL Europeans.

There is nothing called a European! There are the Dutch, the French, the Italians, the Germans, the Brits and the Finnish and lately, the Polish, the Czechs and so on. Europe is a continent, a collection of nations (nations being used here as it should be, a group sharing a cultural identity) which are so different amongst them that they had to be separate countries. So I doubt if any such generalisation is apt.

However I must agree that Europeans (by residence or origin) in general appear less Prozac-ed out than some Americans appear to be. There can be drama but also cynicism and not always open, effusive praise. There is the expectation to be better everyday though better does not mean more money.

I make this observation as a non-European (by origin) living in Europe, who has also lived and worked in the US and a few European countries. Yes, if you go by stereotypes, I am a cynical Gen-X. :-)