> But what he deemed being posited as true

Implicit in the "correctness" of this motive is the idea that unless you're #1 in your field, you are nothing (depression implies strong feelings of worthlessness).

I don't know if you think that's a great lesson to teach your kids as a parent, but I don't.

A valid point. I might add I followed my dad into the field and my son followed me into the field and both academically and in capability he exceeds my ability. I'm enormously proud of him, and I did not seek to prevent him following his heart into the field beyond noting there are other dreams to follow worth considering. I did seek to persuade him not to become a chef, it's a really hard, stressful life.

I totally did not exceed my dads abilities: as one of the 1950s computing pioneers who build some of the first machines in the UK, founded a department of computer science and did work in IFIP, and the BCS, this was always going to be hard.