I’m now a dad to a teenage daughter and a son who just turned 11. Far from being a helicopter parent, I’ve tried to instill in my kids a bias toward self-sufficiency. Not exactly the throw-‘em-in-the-deep-end teachable moments that may serve as harsh reminders of youth for some, but appropriate …

One morning at the bus stop, my daughter Emma approached me, ashen-faced, worry creasing her forehead, tears welling in her beautiful brown eyes. “Dad, I have a choir concert today,” she said. This was problematic since I knew nothing about it. Neither did she, apparently. She was not wearing her …

The tired debate about participation trophies in youth sports flares up pretty regularly, now fanned to a damaging degree by social media. You know the argument: The everybody-gets-a-trophy ethos in youth sports has created a bunch of soft, worthless and weak kids. They’ll never grow up with the wherewithal to …