Parenting Reminder: Kids Often Learn Best When the Going Gets Touch

by Lisa Frederiksen

I’m using this blog post to share a post I wrote for Decoder , The Partnership at DrugFree.org ’s parent-to-parent blog, “breaking down teen culture, substance abuse, and parenting.” I thought I’d quote the opening paragraphs here:

As I read the articles How to Land Your Kid in Therapy and What if the Secret to Success Is Failure I inwardly groaned.

I remember wanting to be “the good mom,” wanting to protect my daughters from making my mistakes. I remember charging through their lives as if I were their personal full back – pushing chores, adversity, negative experiences and disappointments aside, as well as being their personal administrative assistant so they would have the time to do the hours of homework, sports practice, volunteering and part-time jobs required to get into a “good” college.

In my defense and that of other parents my age, my daughters’ childhoods were far more complicated than anything I’d experienced as a kid. In my world, prepping for the S.A.T. exam meant finding a #2 pencil – not hours and hours of exam strategy instruction/tutoring and practice tests…

To read the remainder of the piece, click here…