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Chapter 5 76 Therefore, both as a ‘satis concept’ and as a regulative ideal flourishing is conceived as something which is never entirely achieved (either because ‘enough’ flourishing does not preclude continuing and expanding flourishing, or because an ideal can only be approximated and – in its perfect form – never completely realised), and as something that is difficult, if not impossible, to realise by concrete and determinable steps. In contrast, to take flourishing to be a goal conflicts with what kind of concept flourishing is. For, setting a goal implies an expectation of complete realisation, and a clear perspective on how this can be achieved. That said, the things that parents generally strive for, which they think will contribute to their child’s (chances of) flourishing, can be goals. There is for example no conceptual conflict in aiming for the goal of getting one’s child enrolled in a ‘top’ university (set aside from the question whether such aiming is desirable, to which we will return). In other words, aiming for flourishing as an ideal aim does not preclude the possibility of aiming for certain goods that are believed to contribute to flourishing as if those goods are goals. We have discussed that aiming for flourishing can be more and less deliberate and more and less active, and that parents can have different ideas about how they should raise their children with a view to their future well-being. We now turn to the attitudes of parents with regard to the possibility of their children’s flourishing and their contribution to this. We will first discuss expectations. 5.2.2 S HOULD PARENTS HAVE EXPECTATIONS WITH REGARD TO THEIR CHILDREN ’ S FUTURE FLOURISHING ? We have said in the introduction that we consider expectation and hope to be important concepts when it comes to parents’ views on their children’s flourishing. Having an expectation differs from having hope – they are different types of attitudes. When a person has an expectation about something or someone, she is anticipating that something will happen, in other words, she who expects something believes that that something will probably occur in the future. Parental expectations can emphasise diverse aspects of flourishing (e.g. the success of their children or their subjective happiness, which are ‘satis concepts’ or ideals), which can be distinguished from prioritising objective goods that they believe will contribute to flourishing (a good job, good health, education, etc., which can be considered goals). Parents’ expectations can also differ in other ways.