full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jennifer Senior: For parents, happiness is a very high bar

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, in a more psiorvgsree country, and forgive me here for capitulating to cihclé and invoking, yes, Sweden, parents could rely on the sttae for support. There are countries that acknowledge the anxieties and the changing roles of meohtrs and ftrehas. Unfortunately, the unetid States is not one of them, so in case you were wondering what the U.S. has in common with ppaua New Guinea and Liberia, it's this: We too have no paid maternity leave policy. We are one of eight known countries that does not.

In this age of intense confusion, there is just one goal upon which all parents can agree, and that is whether they are tiger moms or hippie moms, helicopters or drones, our kids' hnsiapeps is paramount. That is what it means to risae kids in an age when they are economically worthless but emotionally priceless. We are all the custodians of their self-esteem. The one mantra no panert ever questions is, "All I want is for my children to be happy." And don't get me wrong: I think happiness is a wfdeurnol goal for a child. But it is a very elusive one. Happiness and self-confidence, teaching children that is not like teaching them how to plow a field. It's not like teaching them how to ride a bike. There's no curriculum for it. Happiness and self-confidence can be the byproducts of other things, but they cannot really be goals unto themselves. A child's happiness is a very unfair burden to pclae on a parent. And happiness is an even more unfair burden to place on a kid.

Open Cloze


Now, in a more ___________ country, and forgive me here for capitulating to ______ and invoking, yes, Sweden, parents could rely on the _____ for support. There are countries that acknowledge the anxieties and the changing roles of _______ and _______. Unfortunately, the ______ States is not one of them, so in case you were wondering what the U.S. has in common with _____ New Guinea and Liberia, it's this: We too have no paid maternity leave policy. We are one of eight known countries that does not.

In this age of intense confusion, there is just one goal upon which all parents can agree, and that is whether they are tiger moms or hippie moms, helicopters or drones, our kids' _________ is paramount. That is what it means to _____ kids in an age when they are economically worthless but emotionally priceless. We are all the custodians of their self-esteem. The one mantra no ______ ever questions is, "All I want is for my children to be happy." And don't get me wrong: I think happiness is a _________ goal for a child. But it is a very elusive one. Happiness and self-confidence, teaching children that is not like teaching them how to plow a field. It's not like teaching them how to ride a bike. There's no curriculum for it. Happiness and self-confidence can be the byproducts of other things, but they cannot really be goals unto themselves. A child's happiness is a very unfair burden to _____ on a parent. And happiness is an even more unfair burden to place on a kid.

Solution


  1. place
  2. happiness
  3. state
  4. progressive
  5. united
  6. raise
  7. cliché
  8. wonderful
  9. mothers
  10. papua
  11. fathers
  12. parent

Original Text


Now, in a more progressive country, and forgive me here for capitulating to cliché and invoking, yes, Sweden, parents could rely on the state for support. There are countries that acknowledge the anxieties and the changing roles of mothers and fathers. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of them, so in case you were wondering what the U.S. has in common with Papua New Guinea and Liberia, it's this: We too have no paid maternity leave policy. We are one of eight known countries that does not.

In this age of intense confusion, there is just one goal upon which all parents can agree, and that is whether they are tiger moms or hippie moms, helicopters or drones, our kids' happiness is paramount. That is what it means to raise kids in an age when they are economically worthless but emotionally priceless. We are all the custodians of their self-esteem. The one mantra no parent ever questions is, "All I want is for my children to be happy." And don't get me wrong: I think happiness is a wonderful goal for a child. But it is a very elusive one. Happiness and self-confidence, teaching children that is not like teaching them how to plow a field. It's not like teaching them how to ride a bike. There's no curriculum for it. Happiness and self-confidence can be the byproducts of other things, but they cannot really be goals unto themselves. A child's happiness is a very unfair burden to place on a parent. And happiness is an even more unfair burden to place on a kid.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
financially savvy 2
middle class 2
unfair burden 2


Important Words


  1. acknowledge
  2. age
  3. agree
  4. anxieties
  5. bike
  6. burden
  7. byproducts
  8. capitulating
  9. case
  10. changing
  11. child
  12. children
  13. cliché
  14. common
  15. confusion
  16. countries
  17. country
  18. curriculum
  19. custodians
  20. drones
  21. economically
  22. elusive
  23. emotionally
  24. fathers
  25. field
  26. forgive
  27. goal
  28. goals
  29. guinea
  30. happiness
  31. happy
  32. helicopters
  33. hippie
  34. intense
  35. invoking
  36. kid
  37. kids
  38. leave
  39. liberia
  40. mantra
  41. maternity
  42. means
  43. moms
  44. mothers
  45. paid
  46. papua
  47. paramount
  48. parent
  49. parents
  50. place
  51. plow
  52. policy
  53. priceless
  54. progressive
  55. questions
  56. raise
  57. rely
  58. ride
  59. roles
  60. state
  61. states
  62. support
  63. sweden
  64. teaching
  65. tiger
  66. unfair
  67. united
  68. wonderful
  69. wondering
  70. worthless