© Mark Willis 2025
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow – The Hierarchy of needs is a model for psychological development. Starting with basic needs for survival, then adding the complexity needed to achieve positive physical and mental health.
Above is my version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, so I have a picture for context.
Please use the real sources for psychological purposes.
What began as a fictional short story, in which I was experimenting with minimal dialogue tags, descriptions, with encouragement, transformed into a short play for the Canberra Reps –‘Logues
A forum for writers of all kinds, to try their hand at being playwrights, where the stories are read aloud by local actors, the best of which will be staged for production to an audience.
To avoid bias before voting and selection, the works need to be unpublished and anonymous. I wrote the original story in December, the play in January and published at the end of March 2026. This is my first attempt at ever writing a play
A professionally presented female MANAGER enters a meeting room. An ‘every-dad’ PARENT in jeans, T-Shirt and boots is waiting. Several posters decorate the wall. Maslow and generic art.
MANAGER: (Friendly) Good Morning Sir, reception asked if I could speak with you. They thought you had a complaint of some kind?
PARENT: (Open, kind) Good Morning, No. Not at all. I’m just looking to schedule a parenting assessment… please?
MANAGER: A parenting… were you supposed to be meeting someone?
PARENT: No, no appointment. I’m trying to figure out how I can arrange for my parenting to be reviewed.
MANAGER: I… Oh! This isn’t a general psychology practice… we are the Australian Psychology Society, we guide standards and practices, promote new techniques, those types of things.
(Pause for apology)
PARENT: (Nodding along) Perfect.
MANAGER: (Consideration) Alright… Can I ask, (quieter) Is this something you need for the courts?
PARENT: (sigh) Heh… No. This is just for us.
MANAGER: Then… I’m confused; How can I help you today?
PARENT: We have a four-year-old and a six-year-old; And would like an assessment of our parenting, so my wife and I, can fix any mistakes. I’m trying to book an appointment with the organisation that provides reviews.
MANAGER: Someone complained about your parenting?
PARENT: No.
MANAGER: And you haven’t been asked to complete anything by the police, the D.S.S. or someone?
PARENT: No.
MANAGER: Then… it sounds like you’re doing fine.
PARENT: Is that really the standard? I don’t have a criminal complaint, so ‘good enough’.
MANAGER: Sir, what do you want me to say?
PARENT: You help coordinate the standards, for an army of psychologists, correct?
MANAGER: We try, except there aren’t as many as we need.
PARENT: Right. We don’t have enough kind and empathetic people to help everyone.
MANAGER: It would be lovely if we did.
PARENT: Well, that’s why I’m here. To help.
MANAGER: Sorry, I’m not understanding.
PARENT: I’ve seen a psychologist for work issues… and do you know what we talked about regardless?
MANAGER: (The connection is made) Your parents.
PARENT: And when my cousin saw someone about his PTSD, what was one thing they talked about?
MANAGER: Their parents… Okay I get it… but where does that leave us?
PARENT: Well… rather than my children attending the next generation of therapists, to fret over how we failed them, I want to meet their needs now.
MANAGER: That you are even asking these types of questions, tells me you’re a fine parent.
PARENT: You can’t know that.
MANAGER: Sir, I don’t…
PARENT: (leans forward, eye contact, kindly) Even if I am… even if I’m a great parent, doing MY best…I’m part of one couple, and our children have their own personalities, quirks and needs. No one taught me any of this. I learned from flawed parents, from flawed friends. If the point of society is to be better, then what are we doing to achieve that?
MANAGER: So, is your wife…?
PARENT: Fantastic? A great mum? You bet.
MANAGER: So then… what do you want?
PARENT: We want everyone to be happy… and healthy.
MANAGER: That’s probably beyond my scope as a middle manager.
PARENT: (Laughing) Understood, I know we can’t help everyone… I’m asking why isn’t there something for people who want it?
MANAGER: (Considering) There are a million books… but… you want someone to review parents? Give them blunt feedback about how they are doing?
PARENT: I do.
MANAGER: (confused explanation) But people don’t want that.
PARENT: I know.
MANAGER: They want to raise ‘their kids’, their way and for no one to criticise them.
PARENT: I know.
MANAGER: Lots don’t want to consider their failings… They want…
PARENT: …to think they are right. For issues to be discussed in private therapy rooms, 10 or 30 years later, without knowing that someone had to fix their mistakes. Only I don’t want my kids to go through that. So, what can we do?
MANAGER: (Unsure) We don’t… That’s not what we do here.
PARENT: (Gently) They said the same thing at the department of Education, of Social Services. Why not?
MANAGER: Y-You already know I think, but if you want an answer, it’s because people have kids whenever they like, whether others believe they should. Then folks just do whatever they want.
PARENT: That’s right. Except we perpetuate the same cycles. The lucky few have all of their needs met; The rest don’t even know what they were missing till it becomes… problematic.
MANAGER: Maslow?
PARENT: Yeah… Maslow. (Moves to a picture of ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ on the meeting room wall) My wife was fed and clothed, she went to school, had family and some friends. She was alive, so she achieved level two on Maslow’s pyramid. It wasn’t until we met, and fell in love, that she knew something was missing.
MANAGER: You’re talking about love and belonging (points at poster).
PARENT: I am. Her parents. I know them, they think they were tough, but they were distant. She was riddled with self-doubt, convinced she would always fail, would never meet anyone, never be happy. She didn’t feel loved, didn’t know how to accept a compliment… hell, she still struggles.
MANAGER: I’m sorry to hear that… has she spoken with someone?
PARENT: And that is the fucking point. I’m not going to have someone asking my kids that, sometime down the road because I missed something important now. She wasn’t disciplined like her brother… just starved of love, of support… till her self-esteem… withered.
MANAGER: I’m… sorry…
PARENT: Which is cool, but that empathy is something to nurture in everyone right? To have meaning and purpose in their lives, to reach the top of Maslow’s pyramid… how many are we failing by not ensuring that every one of their needs are met? Being fed and housed, and potentially educated is the minimum anyone worries about… and it seems like we are losing ground on those too.
PARENT: (hands clenched together) So that’s why I’m asking everyone. What can we do better?
— END —
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