Why “Doing Nothing” is the Hardest Job of Parenting

Surprise. Parenting is hard. Okay that’s not a surprise. The surprise is that one of the hardest parts of parenting is doing nothing. Yes. Really. Sitting on your hands and resisting the temptation to fix problems for our kids can be one of the most difficult exercises in parenting. Self control. It’s ironic that we expect our kids to practice impulse control throughout their lives but we don’t realize how much we need that same lesson.

My kids are 14, 19 and 20 and it has been a lifetime si...