Parenting????

Something I wrote recently to a young mother:

My wife and I are advocates of gentle, porous, patient, boundaries, while allowing the child to emerge at their own pace and in their own way ... and sometimes their emergence doesn't fit well with mom and dad ... I think it's pretty much up to mom and dad to adjust as the child grows ... experiments ... tries different things ... Even when its inconvenient, which it often is, parents need to be flexible. When I counsel those getting married and talk about children, I say, "Children are very expensive in every imaginable way. Be prepared to pay the price, and pay it gladly. If not, do them and the world a favor: don't have any. Because I'll have to counsel them when they're adults and listen to them talk about you." Ha!