Yeah--when my daughter was young I was still very sensitive about everything--we want SO much to make the right choices for our kids. Now that I have some benefit of hindsight, I can see the results of the choices we made early on--some good and some not so good. But for the most part, I DO feel good about the path I put my daughter on--she has turned into quite a remarkable young woman at this point. And now, as she matures and stands up for herself and begins to make her OWN choices about her life, I realize that I should let her "try it her way" and look into things I never thought about before. As long as I can get her where she wants to be in the near future, I think she will take over her own course in life and soar on her own wings. But in those early stages--when we have to make ALL of the choices FOR our kids--it is scary! We want so much to make the RIGHT choices for our kids! And if someone dares question our choices, that makes us feel as if they are questioning our parenting skills--and we become defensive. I may sometimes feel that way, but NOTHING like I did when my daughter was younger. Now, I am almost ready to "pass the baton" to my daughter as she advocates for herself in life--now, it is much less about MY choices for her and much more about HER choices for herself. But I SO remember those feelings of the early days! Actually, a lot of "professionals" seemed hell-bent on "blaming" the parents--if our kids did well, we were praised and commended--if our kids were struggling, we were often blamed. And then the kids mature to a point where how well they do depends a LOT on themselves--the responsibility of achievement begins to rest on THEIR shoulders. I am experiencing that with BOTH of my teenagers right now--in most instances, if they do well it is because they worked hard, and if they don't it is because they did not(of course, there are always some exceptions to that rule). But there DOES seem to be a point where the responsibility passes from parent to child--and the brunt of it begins to rest on the mature child's shoulders instead of on their parent's shoulders. Until then, we are HIGHLY sensitive when it comes to our "babies"--that's for sure!