"You can't shelter your kids forever."

1. Yes, they will face the world eventually. No argument. But a ten-year-old is not a soldier. You don't toughen a recruit by throwing him into combat on day one. You train him first, with people who model what courage actually looks like.

2. Sheltering them from things they aren’t ready for is literally part of my job. Including pruning their friends. Refusing to choose their friends is abdication. Peers will shape your child's character. The question is, "which peers?"

Stewardship now. Independence later.

In that order.