“Your BMW is of no use when you are on bed rest”: Cofounder urges parents to rethink what success means for kids

September 16, 2026 - 13:17

"Your BMW is of no use when you are on bed rest." That line comes from a LinkedIn post by Saurabh Bothra, co-founder of the fitness platform Habuild, and it has started a wider discussion about the way parents measure success for their children.

Bothra's point is simple. Families often push kids toward marks, degrees, and high paying jobs, while treating sleep, movement, and mental health as optional extras. The result, he suggests, is a generation that learns to chase status at the cost of the body and mind that make any of it possible.

The post struck a nerve because it names a trade off many households quietly accept. A car, a house, or a title can signal achievement, but none of it helps a person who cannot get out of bed. Health, Bothra argues, deserves the same urgency parents give to exam results and career plans.

His message does not dismiss ambition. It asks parents to widen their definition of a good life. Success that collapses when the body gives out is not success at all. Teaching children to value rest, exercise, and emotional balance may matter more than any material milestone they are told to chase.