who is only 14 is already making bank at his PT job and pays for much of his own needs too. And my college daughter told us just the other day how grateful she was that we had raised her to be independent (she is 18 but was just made a manager at work, and was reflecting how all of our older kids have gotten tapped for managerial positions in their teens).

I know not all will agree, and that's fine but ... I personally think we do too much for kids in society, and we're not actually doing them a favor in many cases. We lived in the Netherlands for a while and really loved their approach to kids' transportation needs. "Soccer parents" don't exist there, at least not the stereotypical parent driving kids to all their activities. The Dutch philosophy is ... parents aren't responsible for their kids' transportation, and kids have to figure out how to get themselves to the places they want to go. And kids rise to that challenge and are actually happier for it. It changed our worldview.