Hard News: What to Do

Note: I do not have children; I work with children.

But I myself was once a child and, if I were a parent, I might be inclined to approach child-rearing with a foreknowledge of what not to do.

What to do appears to be a tougher reach.

The kid's job: grow up and leave
The adult's job: nurture and encourage individuation

There's all the in-between part that's difficult because we don't want kids to suffer the slings and arrows we had to endure. We want them to be "happy" and "successful" and "empowered."

And some days that seems like such a crapshoot.

I like this article, this list of guidelines — or rules may be a better term — because we all have to help them grow up and leave, and we have to be better adults to accomplish that very thing.

How America Messed Up Its Kids... And How We Can Fix Them (Mark Goulston, M.D., The Huffington Post)