Thank you for this very thoughtful comment. I really appreciate your comparison of the authoritarian and libertarian parenting styles.
I want to find a place where I am available when they are long to equip and train so that when they leave my home they are able to thrive. I want to raise them in such as way that they want to come back to visit me once they leave. That would be one sign of success in parenting well (in my opinion)!
Absolutely. Our simple goal was that our daughter and her mother would be best friends after she left home. Thankfully they are! The father-daughter relationship is much easier. I had no sons so I can't speak to that. I suspect there's a strong parallel between the phrase " a wing and a prayer" and raising of our kids! We would be the "wing" and prayer is , well prayer.