Allow them to feel uncomfortable:
I realize I’m more uncomfortable listening to or even anticipating their discomfort than they are – as if it’s happening to me, not them. I’m robbing them of the right to feel badly and then learn that this too, shall pass. If this means pissing off your five-year-old because they have to sleep in their own bed, or allowing your 17-year-old to fuck up his grade because he pulls a no-show for a really important test, then so be it. Hell, I didn’t rag on my husband when he paid cash for a stolen car, why am I hovering over these kids? Maybe next time they will make the right choice, and I will save myself a big argument.
It’s time to stop “child-protecting” the family environment
Prepare to kick them out of the nest
Let them find their own solutions
But I’ve done none of this. I’m SO late to the party, but it doesn’t mean I can’t still go.