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Chapter 5 74 White emphasises that flourishing as an aim of education does not necessarily imply aiming for something that might occur in the (far) future, because he is convinced that when schools and parents have flourishing as their overarching aim, what they have to do is embody it, rather than prepare children for a future flourishing life. 36 Children should engage in worthwhile relationships, experiences and activities now , in the present, and that will hopefully contribute to their flourishing lives throughout, because it adds to their well-being now, and they learn how to continue their life in this way. So, whereas flourishing as an aim of education certainly has a future-oriented aspect in that education also aims to equip children to lead flourishing lives as adults, flourishing is not something that only lies in the future. In this article we focus on the future flourishing (life) of children, in the sense that we focus on what parents might imagine (hope, expect) such future flourishing lives to look like; but these parental images of the future will often take into account the present well-being and potentiality of the particular child as well, as we saw with Emily and Jason. Ideal or goal In aiming for flourishing it is also important to clarify what kind of aim flourishing is. In educational theory, flourishing is mostly described as an overarching, ideal aim of education. In being an ideal, it is meant to give direction to people’s actions, but it is uncertain whether it will ever be reached. 37 However, in popular literature, as well as in some policy texts, or in a psychological discourse, it is often presented, or seems to be presented, as a goal . A goal can be defined as something that is understood to be realisable and of which it is clear what needs to be done to achieve it, and how this should be effectively done (as one would follow a recipe when aiming to bake a cake). For example, the title of ‘positive psychologist’ Martin Seligman’s 2011 book reads: Flourish: A new understanding of happiness, well-being – and how to achieve them . 38 This implies that it can be known ‘how to achieve’ a flourishing life. Dorothy Emmet argues that, contrary to goals, what she calls ‘regulative ideals’ have means and ends that are not clearly distinguished. 39 She clarifies the idea of a regulative ideal by comparing it to trying to do philosophy: one may get better at it in the course of actually doing it and by following internal critical standards. These standards can be more and less adequately realised in the actual practice. They cannot be specified ab extra , nor does the objective which they 36 White 2011, p. 17. 37 De Ruyter 2007, p. 25. 38 Seligman 2011. 39 Emmet 1994, p. 8.