No thanks, that doesn't sound particularly interesting and I don't like you enough to take time away from reading people's Facebook status updates

My friend H. sent along this article "Please Don't Help My Kids". Some really good points about letting kids learn and grow and figure things out for themselves and deal with frustration. (I see the writer hails from Alameda, California. I was there once, many years ago with a fifteen year-old-cousin who drove around without a license. I can't remember if he'd convinced his mom he had one or if he borrowed her car without her knowing. Maybe not the best anecdote to bring up in support of raising independent kids.)