This work serves as a guide for my imaginary son1. It includes wisdoms in areas of life that I was lucky to have encountered along the way. I don’t want to have my son come across these insights by chance or miss out on them. These are the ways I would like to show my son. The work serves me both as a reminder on how I would like to be a father and as a reminder on how to live my own life. May the work also bring you some golden nugget takeaways and food for thought if you’re not one of my children.
This is not about schooling. Feel free to have whatever opinion on your local educational system. I’m not claiming this knowledge should be included in curricula, nor do I feel the need to ‘change the system’. This is just about what people often call ‘what I wish they taught me in school’. Consider this work an overview of topics that would have been nice to know earlier in life. Use this as a guide to build your own character. See this as additional, but essential education.
It’s hard to not come across as a know-it-all. I don’t pretend to have figured out all topics and to be completely proficient in them. This is just a collection of resources that have helped me along the way. Find experts to finetune your understanding of the basic frame I provide here.
Several areas of life are explained and expanded upon. Not all areas might interest you, now or ever. The areas are mostly self-contained, thus you can skip to whatever chapter you prefer. You can jump back and forth, or read the work front to end. Similarly to the content, I don’t want to tell you how to consume this exactly. I just want to give starting points. What you do with it is up to you.
Each topic is accompanied by a must-reads section with book recommendations. Some information is based on these books, and some books are additional materials that will deepen your knowledge. This work serves as a jumping-off point in your journey of discovering your missing education.
- I’m just as happy with my child turning out to be another gender. Visualising a son simply helps my imagination while writing. Most items apply to other genders too. There might be a bias in me being a male and having more insight in male life than other lives. ↩︎