I think you should treat kids like grown-ups. I think you should expect them to be mature and to behave, and I think that’s what it means to treat someone like a grown-up, although….It’s not about the abdication of authority.

 …it’s common now in this country to find … the parent functions as educational consultant. The parent makes a recommendation, but the child makes the final decision. I know of cases where the kid was clearly making the wrong decision and the parents knew it but nevertheless felt completely powerless to overrule their child. The child is the one who suffers.

Dr. Leonard Sax, speaking about his new book The Collapse of Parenting and about where today’s parents are making mistakes.