Make sure your kids know that no matter what, they are loved, they are supported, they are accepted, they are enough. Make sure they know that no matter where they go, they carry your love and support and pride with them.

So why isn’t that being reflected in your tone? In your assumptions? Where is the kindness? Where is the good faith? Why aren’t you talking to them like someone who believes in them, who is a fan of them? Where is the patience? Where is the charity? Where is the demonstrable unconditionalness that you purport to have for them? Mm-hm. That’s right.

The main thing is for them to be healthy, to be prepared for life, to have good values, to have a good sense of who they are and what they want to spend their life doing. The main, main, main, main thing is to love them and for them to feel loved.

Your kids need to be seen. They need to be heard. They need to be loved. They need to be known. For who they are, for what they choose to be. Not for who or what you want them to become. That’s all they really want from us. And they deserve to have it. So you better give it to them. Starting today and for the rest of their lives.

This parenting thing has changed you. It’s made you see that it’s all connected, that we’re all connected. It’s made you better.

Your kids are going to make choices that scare you. People are going to doubt them. People are going to criticize them. Maybe you yourself doubt the wisdom of their choices. And? Where they are, you must be too. Love your kids. Root for them. Support them. Fight for them and fight with them. Be beside them and behind them. Wherever they are.

Your kids may never demand their share of the estate, but they will stray. They will act out. They will try to establish their independence. They will get themselves into trouble. As parents, we have to accept that, and accept them all the same. We have to take them back. We have to give them what they need. And when they wander back, we have to

They are good enough. The talents, the interests, the goals they have, are enough.

It’s a sobering reminder to all parents: the feeling of deficiency is far worse than any potential deprivation. So make sure your kids know that they are enough, that they are plenty, that you have loved them from the moment they were born. And make sure you remember that there is nothing they have to do to earn this love. There’s nothing they must