Growing up is hard. Skinned knees, monsters under the bed, clothes stained beyond recognition, childhood can be scary, messy, and sometimes painful. As parents, we cringe when they ride a two-wheeler for the first time. Full of pride and scared to death that they’ll hurt themselves. We buy goldfish, weekly if need be, to protect their young hearts from the pain of loss. We want them to grow up, but we also want to protect them. As someone who has worked with many families with children from pre-k through high school, I can attest that these feelings never go away.

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