There are no clever gurus out there with a magic formula for success. Raising a child is hard work, combining love with firmness, success with reversal, and thought with action. The best solutions are are determined by individual parents who know and love their children. Teachers, therapists, guidance counselors, writers, and social workers can provide support and serve as cheerleaders. The parents have to be willing to think, struggle and love.
Wisdom is created out of the struggle to find a way to exercise authority as an expression of love.
Making choices as a parent is an act of faith. To have faith as a parent means to believe that one's efforts will make a difference over time. It means accepting the challenges that occur at every stage of development as children grow older. Just as a parent begins to feel comfortable guiding a toddler, that child has become a preschooler who is beginning to explore the world more widely. A whole new set of difficulties suddenly appear.