Do not helicopter or snowplow your children. Let them make their own mistakes. At the same time, make clear rules. One that we set was this: “You are allowed to break an arm, a leg, a wrist, an ankle. But you may not break your skull or your back, or impair your senses.” This allowed our children a sense of what kinds of risks were acceptable to ta

Parents might also need to perfect what I call the “ho-hum stride” and use it to replace lunging towards the baby about to touch the dog’s dish and shouting, “No!”, or charging after the toddler who runs away when it’s time to go home from the park

“No matter what you do, in any situation with your child, ask yourself, What beliefs is my child going to take away from this encounter? Will your child walk away thinking: I just made a mistake and I learned something great or I’m insignificant?”