April 5, 2016
Tips on Raising Successful Adults

I had to chime in after I heard a call recently where a father was unable to let his diabetic son have his own failures and even his own successes.

To quote a recent article I read:

"In the past coming-of-age was a gift that older generations gave to the rising generation and now we don't do that for adolescents."

This is what we did for our two kids when they were in high school. We had three requirements:

1. They had to study a foreign language all four years. 


2. They had to learn how to drive a clutch before they got their driver's license.  


3. They had to get a job. 

These three things were not negotiable. My son worked at a car wash, where coincidentally he got the practice lots of Spanish. My daughter worked at a local private post office and also had bang-up babysitting business. We did not buy them cars, or cell phones and they both survived. Both eventually bought their own cars.

The outcome was one child is now trilingual and the other child is bilingual. Both are college graduates and both are now naval officers. They are living completely independently at the ages of 25 and 23. The thing about these requirements was they were unique surmountable goals that allowed my children a sense of accomplishment and unique successes. Yet, they were things that they were easily attainable and within their reach. Just some ideas for parents who are trying to figure out how to do it.



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Posted by Staff at 10:57 AM