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Summary 111 inevitable Wagnis rather affirms the importance of trust in the parent-child relationship. Trust is important, first and foremost because it ‘is a condition for the development of the capacities of children’. 5 Chapter 5 discusses what attitude parents should have towards their children’s future flourishing. The proponents of education for flourishing discussed in this dissertation do not tend to write for parents, so the claim that parents ought to aim for the flourishing life of their children is not likely to be intended or read as direct advice to them. Nevertheless, the idea that flourishing is the (ideal) aim of education does suggest that parents should pursue the ideal of a flourishing life for their children, which leads to the question in which way they should do that. It is argued that the theoretical claim that parents should aim for the flourishing life of their children does not necessarily imply that parents have to be aware that they do so, i.e. have to strive for flourishing in a deliberate or active way. The concept of flourishing, due to its significant features such as being an ultimate, multi-interpretable aim, which is never really finished, is the type of concept that is best conceptualised as a (regulative) ideal. When perceived as an ideal, there is no expectation of complete fulfilment, and there is, in principle, no precise prescription available for how one should reach a flourishing life. The chapter argues that it is problematic to think of the concept of human flourishing as if it were an achievable goal (a type of aim of which it is known how it can be effectively realised), and to aim for flourishing as such. Moreover, a combination of parental expectations, which involve the belief that it is probable that the object of the expectations will come true, and aiming for flourishing as if it were a goal creates tensions. There is a legitimate place for (flexible) expectations towards things that can be considered goals, such as particular goods that might contribute to flourishing (e.g. finding a good school). However, with regard to the flourishing life of children, a parental attitude of hope, which involves the belief that it is possible that the object of one’s hopes will come true, is more appropriate, because ‘hope’ implies a recognition of the limitations of one’s powers to contribute to realising ultimate aims. On the basis of these four research questions and answers, it is concluded that human flourishing can only be meaningfully defended as an aim of education in a theory that gives due acknowledgment to the educational practices it describes. This implies that: 5 Spiecker 1990.