Parenting and family stuff

Kids who are taught to keep a stiff upper lip become adults who hide their suffering. Appearing composed doesn't mean they aren't hurting. They might be reluctant to show vulnerability or impose on others. The emotions people express aren't always a clue to the pain they feel.... See more

All kids need the same things from their parents:

• To know they’re acceptable exactly as they are


• To know that no matter what, their parents will be there to help them, take care of them, protect them, give them food and shelter, and emotional/physical love


• To be delighted in

One thing adults conceal about sex they also conceal about drugs: that it can cause great pleasure. That's what makes sex and drugs so dangerous. The desire for them can cloud one's judgement—which is especially frightening when the judgement being clouded is the already wretched judgement of a teenage kid.

Here parents' desires conflict. Older... See more

In only three generations, children in the British Isles as well as the United States have lost their freedom to roam, their independently explorable territories shrinking from hundreds of acres to the dimensions of each child’s own back yard. This is not an accusation toward parents; their decisions reflect their judgments about their children’s

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What do you consider your greatest achievement so far?

Building a family. Building is a political philosophy – a very noble act. We talk a lot about the virtue of building in Silicon Valley, and for most people, family formation is the deepest and most tangible way in which they’ll experience building something from nothing that outlasts... See more