“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”
– Thomas Jefferson

According to the author of America’s foundational document, we were all born to live, and be free. We parents would be wise to remember this whenever we feel our kids push the boundaries for more…freedom.

Our job is not, in the name of our fear, to clamp down on their freedom until they learn responsibility. No, our job requires more thoughtfulness than that—we are to strategically expand their freedom as they age, even before they ask for it.

That way their freedom, not our fear, teaches them responsibility, through the natural and logical consequences of their choices. And…that way they don’t see us as the barriers to their God-given life of freedom, but rather the champions of it.

(This is why Jenny and I put framed parchment copies of Jefferson’s best work in our kids’ rooms. We told ‘em that like the U.S., it’s their job to eventually declare their independence, but unlike the British, it’s our job to help.)

Peace,