A friend of mine told me about a “parenting fail” that I could immediately identify with. His son stubbed his toe and squealed with tears. My friend tried to toughen him up, by telling him he ought not to cry like that. The next day my friend’s son came home, talking about another playground injury. The son, with pride, announced that he had found a strategy to keep from crying. He just got very angry and blamed the person standing closest to him. I saw myself in the parenting fail. How often have I tried to correct some behavior, only to have my own instruction backfire on me? But the more I
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