I had fairly strict parents. Definatly not the type that went throught 'be my friend' stage, however, one of my friends had parents who let them do so much more. However, they weren't pushovers, they just treated their children like adults when they got to the age. High school for them wasn't a bunch of too early curfews and unreasonable rules, nor was it the 'do what you want' years either. Their parents layed down the rules, like 'call us if you're going to be late, it's ok.' or 'if you feel you need to drink (high school obviously), we will let you drink here, as long as you don't go out and drink then drive.' They were trying to teach their children responsibility. It totally worked. My friend is in Medical school now, STILL has never made below a 4.0 in her life, isn't a study-holic--she's totally cool and loves to go out just like everyone else, she just learned responsibility early--and she has tons of common sense because of it. I think this is what Corbin meant by Balance. You can't be overly protective, or your children will no know what hit them when they get to the real world, but if your underprotective, then they might end up learning the hard stuff a lot earlier than they should.
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