We're on to the second generation, in my opinion, of a very destructive self-sustaining cycle. In the 80s, parents were taught 'latch-key kids' were neglect an

We're on to the second generation, in my opinion, of a very destructive self-sustaining cycle. In the 80s, parents were taught 'latch-key kids' were neglect and they were 'growing up too fast' (a nonsensical idea). So they overparented. This was accepted by them gladly because when they were raised, things were very permissive and they remembered being those long-haired hippies that they had turned their backs on when they became stock brokers. They wanted to make sure their kids didn't get similar rebellious ideas. So those children got over-parented. As a result of the degree of control they suffered, particularly during adolescence, they never developed a full adult maturity. Now they're having kids. And they're not mature enough to handle it. Parenting is the hardest, but most rewarding, thing a person can do in their life. Your job (and most parents today would be shocked to hear this) is to take a child and turn it into an adult. Not a larger child. Mere aging does NOT cause a child to develop. Experience is the exclusive means through which new neural connections are formed. Intense and novel experience in particular is the most useful for development. In their absence, development does NOT occur. So as a parent, you have to expose your child to these things that will change them. The child you love more than your own life will be turned into an individual who wants to leave you and has no need for you. How mature do you have to be to put your own feelings aside and accept that this inevitable heartbreak on your part is in the best interest of your child and therefore you will pursue it actively? Very, I'd say. The next time you hear a parent remark that their child is "not ready" for something, whether its watching a scary movie or dating or whatever, ask them what they are doing, as a parent, to MAKE their child ready for it. You will typically get a blank stare.