It could be worse

The secret to happier parenting

When I was in the thick of raising babies and toddlers, one of my least favorite stranger-in-the-grocery-store observations (after “enjoy every minute!”) was “just wait until the teenage years!”

I guess the usual idea is that little kids have little problems and big kids have big problems. While it is true that big kids can have big problems, I think a lot of parents make themselves unhappier about the teen years than they need to be by turning little problems (that is, normal adolescent misbehavior) into big problems.