<p>Marite has beautifully described our situation as well. We have one kid internally driven, one kid not. Raising them, we tried to find their very different interests and encourage them. In one case, that meant tons of extra academics and extra curriculars. In the other case, that meant trying to find room in the kid's social life to squeeze ourselves in once and a while, and keeping up the stock of art supplies. </p>
<p>They were different from day one: the kid who liked to spend hours sitting in a swing, singing, while being pushed; the kid who pushed himself to roll across the floor and try out a knob on the fire place before he could even crawl. While it's true that society rewards one more than the other, and the driven one may ultimately get more accolades and earn more money, I have always contended the less driven kid will be happier. It's not comfortable always needing to be "the best" though great achievements may come from it. Someone with that need may never be content; while someone with the capacity to be content with less may very well like himself or herself a lot more. As a parent, I can't take credit or blame -- they pretty much came out of the box that way.</p>