I haven’t ran-away or disowned my parents, but I’ll be doing so very soon.

My parents aren’t exactly bad people, but I view them as stubborn and ignorant. Understanding their background, I can’t hold it against them. My father is a Vietnam refugee who was torn from his parents at ~15, and my mother had her education cut short, despite her dreams to become a teacher. My grandmother passed away when my mother was a child and then lost her chance at schooling due to cost.

So why do I want to leave so bad? Asian stereotype here, but the marks the expect is very strict. Never have they hit me once, surprising for an Asian family, but mentally it takes a huge toll. The expectation is 95+ in the IB program (in Canada, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if being Canadian makes a difference, but I heard US has different scaling) and that’s something I can’t do on a normal day.

I’ve come to love animating, and just picked up GFX design, and even then my parents can’t accept that I love these things and expect me to become a doctor. (again, Asian stereotype) Where I thought I would get support and love for what I want to do, all I get is just my relatives conveniently driving me away from animating and offering family business jobs.

Now I still love my parents, and in some ways show that they love me, and I don’t want to leave them, but it’s too much to hold mentally. I tried to change my parents, explaining that my current marks are perfectly fine and I can still be successful, but they just won’t budge. If you’re looking for an opinion on to leave your parents or not (just in case), try and try again to make it up with your parents. If you can’t see change and the attempts come at the expense of your health, the last resort is disowning them. -Shotonne