Q: I have a son 21 years old. He was good in studies till class 7 - then we shifted him to a boarding school in class 8. Since then his grades have fallen. He failed twice in class 11. Then he cleared his 12th class from the National Open School. He is good in arts so he did a course for a few months but did not clear the year as he could not finish the assignments for the year since he had joined the course late. After that he worked in call centres but did not like the job so left and gave an interview for an airlines company and joined the training but could not clear the viva. He was good in the written papers but could not clear the orals. So he left that too. Now he is modelling for different agents. I want him to do his graduation in English Honours from IGNOU. He too agreed but does not show any interest. He wants to do graphic designing. How do I go about trying to make him more responsible and should I be after him to finish graduation? He hardly has any qualifications. I am really worried about him. Whatever he tries to do he is not successful. He likes modelling and enjoys his shoots and ramp shows. Please advise?

A:As a parent you may be overly ambitious for your son, but you should be more realistic. You must take his interests and abilities into account. From your mail it appears that he is interested in graphic designing and in modelling. Perhaps a course in Graphic designing course would be acceptable to him, and it would provide employment after modelling is no longer possible. Instead of forcing him, try to encourage independent thinking and decision making. If he takes a decision himself, he is more likely to work towards a goal.