This seems odd that I should spend so much time reflecting on parenting. Alison, my only child is 22. At this point, college is in the past. Graduate school is on the back burner. Just working at Starbuck’s and living with friends in St. Louis. And this is where it gets hard for me. I want her to thrive and be something great — not waste her life at Starbucks. I have tried to nudge in that direction with no success. With a serious medical condition that requires expensive treatment, a job with health insurance is really important. This is what keeps me up at night.

I listened to Rick Steves podcast yesterday and he interviewed a woman who moved to Germany with her young children. She described how Germans parent differently than Americans. She described how, in the park she was the only one hovering over the kids. The attitude of German parents was to let the kids be free and discover and explore and learn. Basically, the philosophy is that kids learn best from kids. i think that i have always agreed with this philosophy and let my child explore and learn and not be over-protected or shielded from the world.

In keeping with the German philosophy, if you give your child the tools to be successful, you have to trust them to make the best decisions for them. This is where parenting becomes difficult. If she’s happy working at Starbucks in St. Louis, I have to respect that. I have to allow her to make her own decisions, if I truly trust my own parenting philosophy. This never ends.