It’s fairly easy to (rightly) conclude that if you take care of an animal – feed it, give it shelter, etc. – that it will lose it’s desire and ability to fend for itself.

So it goes with children, as well. The more you do for them, take care of them and protect them from outside forces that may hurt their feelings or do any physical harm to them, the more unprepared they’ll be when they’re adults.

I just came across this quote from a Mark Hemingway article in the Federalist that I think sums it up nicely:

“You know what it’s called when kids make mistakes without adult supervision and have to wrestle with the resulting consequences? Growing up.”