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Chapter 5 82 ensured . Third, we think that hoping that one’s children will do well is beneficial for the parent-child relationship. To have hopes regarding the flourishing of one’s children expresses a belief in the possibilities of children, which encourages the confidence children have in themselves without expecting them to succeed in achieving flourishing lives. 5.3 C ONCLUDING REMARKS The theoretical claim that parents ought to aim for the flourishing life of their children leads to the question in which way parents should do that. This article explored what it means for parents to aim for a flourishing life for their children. We started off by showing what it meant for Jason’s parents to strive for a better life for their son. Most parents tend to wish their children well, and seem to have some kind of view on the ‘end-product’ of their upbringing, and (implicit) ideas about how they should contribute to their children coming closer to a flourishing life. We have shown that aiming for flourishing can be done in various ways, and that it need not, but can be, a deliberate or active pursuit. We have argued that it is problematic to aim for flourishing as if it were an achievable goal, of which it is known how it can be effectively reached. We think it important that when parents aim for the flourishing life of their children, this ought to be associated with an attitude of hope, as opposed to an attitude of having expectations, even though there is also a place for expectations in their parenting. Why is it important to theorise how parents should (not) aim for the flourishing of their children? As said in the introduction, philosophy of education is limited to making claims about parents, and is usually very careful not to give advice to parents. Ramaekers and Suissa argue that claims argued for in what they call the dominant languages of parenting, such as psychology and neuroscience, become blurred in the sense that the claims that are made about and on parents can eventually become claims that are made by parents themselves, as parents gradually come to see themselves in the ways implied in the predominant languages of parenting. 65 We think that the (theoretical) claim that parents should pursue a flourishing life for their children (and related claims about how they should do this) might also be susceptible – eventually and 65 Ramaekers and Suissa 2012, p. vii.