The Rules of Parenting, 2nd Edition

RULE 14

Anything extreme is almost certainly wrong

I know parents who never let their kids watch any TV. Not many of them, mind you. And I know parents who feed their children an exclusively vegan diet. And parents who dress their children entirely in purple. I even know parents who make their children get up at 6.30 every morning, even in the holidays – which may be normal in some parts of the world, but certainly not here in the UK.

Aha! That’s the crux of it, you see. None of these things may be wrong in themselves, but it just doesn’t work to bring your children up in ways that are too much at odds with their peers. It messes with their sense of identity, and makes it even harder than it already is for them to feel comfortable in their ...