RULE 99
Back off
You had 18 years to get your kids to where you wanted them to be. I don’t mean you got them into a job as a top lawyer, doctor, footballer or whatever. I mean you had 18 years to equip them with everything they would need to be happy in life.
Well, time’s up. You’ve had your 18 years. Now back off. If they haven’t learnt it by now it’s too late. From here on it’s up to them and you can’t interfere any more. If you see them doing something you don’t like, that’s tough. You should have thought of that before. You missed your chance, mate.
There’s only one thing left you can still teach them, and that’s to stand on their own two feet without you there to lean on. And the only way you can teach them that is by backing off. The ...
Get The Rules of Parenting, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
