I don't think you should blindly defend your children, though. Be predisposed to defend them, sure, but be open to the possibility that they were in the wrong a

I don't think you should blindly defend your children, though. Be predisposed to defend them, sure, but be open to the possibility that they were in the wrong and have a lesson to learn from it. I wouldn't view my job as a parent being to protect my child. Rather, it's to make my child the best person I can. Sometimes that might involve letting them try something and fail, and possibly get hurt... in which case it's my role to make sure they don't take on something which might seriously hurt them. Or punishing them when they've done something wrong.