Sep 22 / Simcha

What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?

KIPP Infinity middle school in Manhattan. (Tape Installation: Stephen Doyle. Photograph: Stephen Wilkes for the NYTimes)

More than anything, kids need a little difficulty, some challenge or deprivation that they can overcome, even if just to prove to themselves that they can.  If we take that opportunity away from them, their education – both at home and at school – is “missing out on some serious parts of what it means to be a successful human.”  We also inadvertently shield them from exactly the kind of experiences that can lead to character growth.

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Aug 10 / Simcha

Our Obsession with our Kids’ Happiness

Artist: Lou Brooks, The Atlantic (Summer 2011)

Do parents do their children a favor when they are present to address their every need and request?  When they are available at every moment (in person or by text or cellphone) to protect, calm, soothe, remind, help out, and help make decisions?

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