What if María Pombo isn't a bad example for our children?

I happened to see a high school kid on TV who had created software to improve bridge design. At eight, he decided he wanted to be an entrepreneur, and at 11, he started making money selling 3D products he made himself. Beside him, his father beamed proudly. It was only natural. Meanwhile, I couldn't stop thinking that eight and 11 are my children's ages, and their biggest motivation all summer has been to thwart my attempts to get them to read for a while. I'm much closer to raising a María Pombo than a multimillionaire.

I won't fall for the lynching of the influencer for claiming that reading doesn't make you better (I know a few intellectuals who are real sons of bitches), even though I can't understand who the hell she's supposed to influence. Given the uproar, I spent some time watching videos (a time that won't return, but it's not much worse than watching Atleti) and I was surprised to find it completely harmless, a bland idealization of the posh people with highlights created by a poorly trained AI.

She's the ultimate aspirational role model, unless your dream is to drive an SUV and have a communal area in the city center . I find it hard to understand how a young girl sees Pombo and thinks this is how she wants to be; that's a 6. However, and here's the twist, I think I'd prefer her as a role model for my children to our undeniably admirable teenage entrepreneur.

What would you do if your eight-year-old son told you he wanted to be an entrepreneur, that what excites him is starting to make money? Terrified, I would punish him preemptively. Punish him to play. I'm not going to demonize money, a goal as laudable in life as happiness or love, but one that gets worse press because it doesn't work as well in self-help T-shirt quotes. However, one of the few things I've learned in this life (I'm not very smart; as a kid, all I wanted to do was play basketball and read Superlópez) is that the stages you skip come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later. Always. That never fails.

Every friend who stayed behind studying while we went out partying has ended up dragging themselves through bars at 40, or worse, bitter about whether it was worth it to not come out those nights only to be rewarded with, in fact, an SUV and a paddle tennis court in the urban center . Every couple that started without any prior experience, got married, and procreated quickly has ended up breaking up amidst cuckoldry and a desire to make up for lost sex (late and badly). In ten years, I hope Lola and Javi have the brains and success of the kid on TV, but right now I prefer them to be like María Pombo , who just wants to be loved and to browse photo books. I just wish they were children.