This is a very interesting viewpoint! If by tough you mean teaching him to be self sufficient, to overcome his problems, to do the best he can totally agree. To

This is a very interesting viewpoint! If by tough you mean teaching him to be self sufficient, to overcome his problems, to do the best he can totally agree. To use a concrete example teach him to tie his shoes, but don't do it for him. I think what is not good and what I have sometimes seen is parents yelling at a 5 year old for having his shoes untied or making some small error. Completely agree about threading the needle. When I was young, men never talked about feelings. I grew up competent and successful, but also drank heavily to deal with anxiety. I didn't even know what anxiety was, that stuff just wasn't talked about when I was young. I agree though we can go too far and coddle people. This stuff is hard!