THE PARENTING MANIFESTO PROJECT
From Erin Keniston:
For the record, I am 52, my daughters are 26 & 25 years old.My primary belief in raising my children was always, and is still, that I needed to keep my eye on the prize: I was not raising children, I was raising adults. Just as it makes no sense to grow a garden if your object is to have immature corn, it makes no sense to believe that your goal in parenting is childhood. Your goal is to create adults. Anything that helps these little people navigate through childhood into adulthood is worthwhile, even if it means protecting them less or trusting them more. Balance must be kept between over-protection (refusing to let them use birth control, for instance) and helping them understand the consequences of their actions (getting pregnant, getting someone else pregnant, etc.). If you can keep your understanding on the level that this is a future adult, and adults don't need protection, then maybe you can better judge when protection is called for versus rational discussion of risks & rewards.
