I hope you never get caught in the place of parenting parents.

Here, I do not mean taking care of your parents as they age.

You obviously can’t help someone to the restroom nine times per day with a full-time job.

But there is a good, hopefully, long period in there where you can take your parents to the doctor, help them get groceries, and keep their lawn mowed.

This is not that.

This is when you are twenty-one, or forty-one, and discover you are more mature than one or both of your parents.

Nobody should have to parent their parents.

If you find yourself in this position though – be encouraged!

And thank you.

It’s hard to be a good parent.

Isn’t it?

Am I being overbearing? Or giving them too many choices? Was that last consequence appropriate for the action? Am I teaching them life skills at the appropriate rate? Too soon? Or, too late?

If you are in doubt, ask a friend, and read a book – that’s what I do.

You just do your best.

Your best is, after all, all you can do.

I’m unclear about the fine line between good parenting and being overly protective. I get stumped by the easy test questions—like whether I should let Sam ride his two-wheeler for several blocks without me when I secretly want to run alongside him like a golden retriever. He wants to walk to a friend’s house; I want him to stay inside and draw while I sit on the front porch with a shotgun across my lap like Granny Clampett.